The Mission Stays the Same
by Broken Trident
Summary: A joke of Chaos daemon sent two unlikely allies - an Eldar Farseer and an Imperial Storm trooper, through the Warp and into another Universe. In this place, everything is alien to them. Except for one thing - war. War is something they know very well.
1. Uncertain future

_Author's Note: I have had this story in my head for several months already and decided to finally post it here on FF. This is my first experience as a fanfiction author so all criticism would be appreciated. Both constructive and not so much. I'll warn you that English is actually not my native language and every advice about my writing style would be also appreciated._

_I will make some deviations from Mass Effect dialogs. Not that I think the dialogs in the ME are bad they are great. However, sometimes I just wished I could say something else._

_Also for those Warhammer 40k fans that are looking for grimdark story I want to warn you: you will not find here one. This story is set in ME universe that is not grimdark. Also I want to apologize to all Space Marines fans: sorry, no Astartes here. I'm a fan of Imperial Guard particularly Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts. I'm also a vivid fan of the Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain novels. Therefore, I'll try to add a little humor to the story. If it will be bad, don't be afraid to tell me!_

_I also want to thank Colonel_Mustard1990 for his crossovers Hammerhand ad Angels of Storm. Those two were the source of inspiration for this story._

_And before we begin… DISCLAIMER!_

_Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. In case of possible references to WH40k novels: those novels belong to Black Library and/or their respective authors. In case of possible references to WH40k Dawn of War series: the games belong to THQ._

_Phew, I hope I didn't miss anyone. I case I did – your stuff belongs to you._

_Alright let's do it__._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: Uncertain future.<strong>

**Location: Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Humanity's Councilor office (former Humanity's embassy). Year 2185**

Commander Shepard should have seen this coming.

When she mentioned to the Illusive Man that she intended to ask the Council and the System Alliance for help against the Collectors and the Reapers, he did not look overly concerned about the fact that she might decline his help and resources in favor of those of the Council. She already knew that Council and Alliance tried to sweep the info of the Reapers under the rug to avoid panic of the general population. She even privately agreed with that. Panic breeds chaos and chaos was the last thing they needed in their preparations to repel the Reaper invasion.

Only now she knew there were no preparations at all. Two priceless years gone. Just like that.

"So I'm on my own. Again," Shepard sighed heavily.

"We are in a difficult position here Shepard. You are working for Cerberus – the avowed enemy of the Council. This is treason, a capital offense…" Councilor Tevos stated.

Great, Shepard thought. First I am called a lunatic by a Turian councilor, then a traitor by the Asari. This just keeps getting better and better.

"That's too far! I'm on this Council and I would not let this whitewash continue!" Councilor Anderson interrupted the Asari. "Shepard is a hero and she deserves to be treated as such!"

"She also deserved her remnants to be recovered and given a proper burial, although we know how that turned out," Shepard snapped at Anderson. Anderson turned to look at her, his impression that of hurt with a tiny bit of guilt. "Don't give me that look Councilor. If the Alliance followed its mottos properly, particularly the 'leave no man behind' one, we all would not be in this mess."

She was not angry at Anderson in particular, though she wanted through him to give the Alliance a message on how she felt about being left in the ices of Alchera. She was a Hero of Elysium, a Hero of the Citadel, the First Human Spectre for god's sake! The rescue ships were right there in the high orbit collecting escape pods from the downed Normandy, was it so much trouble to send a couple of shuttles to look for her body? Not that she minded being alive, actually quite the contrary. However, it was a little depressing to know that the reward for doing so much for the Galaxy was to be left rotting on some forgotten planet.

Shepard raised her hand before Anderson could come up with some sort of excuse, effectively telling him that no excuse would be good enough. She then turned to the Council and placed her hands on her hips before asking.

"As for your accusation of the high treason, Councilor Tevos, I would like to know what exactly I did in the last seven days of my new lifetime that painted me as a formal employee of Cerberus because I sure as hell didn't sign a legal contract." Shepard started to count with her fingers. "Let's see. I spent four days in transit, one day investigating the colony of Freedom's Progress, and two days on Omega. I helped a Turian vigilante against half of Omega's mercs, and assisted a former STG member in stopping the plague that targeted only aliens and was engineered by the Collectors. Those last two aren't exactly your average Cerberus ops."

"We were getting reports of your work with Cerberus for almost four months now," Councilor Valern countered, probably referring to his race's famous STG operatives.

"Clearly disinformation. Most probably on Cerberus' behalf, the Illusive Man will be the only one to benefit from this," intervened Professor Mordin Solus, who up to that moment stood quietly behind Shepard. "Shepard's surgical scars still have not healed. Should have spent more time recuperating. If she was active for four months, would have healed naturally. Who checked the intel for credibility?"

To emphasize Mordin's point Shepard moved her dark brown hair to reveal glowing scars on both sides of her face. Both Turian and Asari holograms along with Anderson turned to give the Salarian Councilor questioning looks. The Councilor in question turned his head left as if listening to some invisible speaker and then hung his head, suddenly fascinated with the folds of his formal robe.

Shepard smiled inwardly. She knew it would be a good idea to bring a decorated STG veteran to support her claims of the Collectors attacking the colonies. Once he was on board, she asked him to check if the video feed from Freedom's Progress was genuine and not some clever Cerberus trick to ensure her cooperation with them. Mordin confirmed that there was no tampering with the video. He also asked to be able to forward this information to his old STG contacts. Shepard agreed.

Seeing the effect Professor's words had on Valern she quickly started to think of where she can get some respected members of other races so that the Council would take her seriously. Shepard entertained the idea of bringing Garrus with her to this meeting, but Garrus declined, stating that he would do more harm than good because his people viewed him as something of a renegade. Then again, Councilor Sparatus probably respected only himself.

As for the Asari, Shepard thought that she would need to find some respected Matriarch or an Asari Spectre. The thought of matriarchs brought up memories of the late Matriarch Benezia and automatically led to her daughter Liara… Shepard quickly pushed those thoughts aside. She would deal with this later although she still had no idea how. How to tell your beloved who, if Garrus is to be believed, spent two years mourning you, that you are not dead?

"We will investigate this information further," the Turian Councilor began, and Shepard was glad to be brought out of her reverie about Liara. "In the meantime…"

"Alright, stop. See this is where I think we need to part ways," Shepard interrupted him quickly. "I don't have time to sit and wait for you to 'investigate'. I already have a crewmember that lost a brother on the recently abducted colony of Ferris Fields. Another one has a daughter on New Canton. He works for Cerberus because they promised him they would transport his family back to Earth. Those two and hundreds of thousands missing colonists are the people I actually work for, not Cerberus. They are just paying the bill."

The Turian was about to retort but she cut him short. "Before you ask why would they do this I'll tell you that I have not figured it out, yet. Although I can safely bet my shoe collection that they know that once The Great Commander Shepard goes on the crusade against some of the advanced races of the galaxy, there will be expensive loot left in the wake of her rampage. Hell, last time I left a destroyed Reap- Sorry 'Advanced Geth Dreadnought'," Shepard made air quotes, much to the Sparatus' annoyance "I'm sure half of it ended up in Cerberus labs".

"Most logical assumption," Mordin stated beside her. "The technology to neutralize an entire colony without firing a single shot would alone cover all expenses made to bring Commander back. Also genetically engineered plague, like the one used on Omega, if gets to the wrong people…" He inhaled deeply. "Implications troubling."

"And I can tell that the majority of Cerberus perfectly fits into the definition of a 'wrong people'. I don't intend to let them get their hands any kind of such technology, but my main objective is to stop the Collectors and get our people back," Shepard said and then she sighed and continued. "Look, I'm not your enemy, although you are really trying to make one of me. I guess my return from the realm of the dead is not a welcome sight I thought it would be," She paused and then stood ramrod straight like an officer reporting of her actions, "I will be operating mostly in Terminus systems, though I will make several detours into Council space to pick up resources, upgrades and personnel. That will minimize the political blowback to Council and the Alliance."

Shepard slightly nodded and said. "Good day to you Councilors," She then turned and started to leave, nodding to Mordin indicating that they were done here.

"Commander, wait!" Anderson tried to attract her attention. "Commander!"

Shepard ignored him, knowing that more talking would not give her anything useful, and life was too short to be wasted on arguing. She would not be able to convince the Council of the Reaper threat unless she brings a live Reaper. Or two.

Exiting Anderson's office, she found Garrus leaning against the wall. "How did it go?" the scarred Turian asked moving to follow her determined stride. He was still wearing his broken armor from his fight with the mercs.

"They didn't believe me, so, you know, no changes there," Shepard replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Showed remarkable self-restraint," Mordin noted. "May wish to consider a political career after you deal with the Reaper threat."

Councilor Victoria Shepard. Hero of Elysium. Hero of the Citadel. Scourge of the Collectors. Bane of the Reapers. Her election's motto would be "It's 'cause I'm just that awesome". She would probably win in the first round.

Shepard smiled and shook her head. Then she heard Anderson leaving his office and shouting. "Commander, would you please stop for a minute?" Several nearby diplomats turned their heads at the commotion

Victoria turned around but continued moving backwards. "I'm done talking Councilor. Too many things to do," She then remembered something and added. "If you see Williams send her my regards and congratulations on her promotion. And a big hug." She then turned once again and continued striding towards the Wards.

_Several minutes later_

"Have you bought a new armor like I told you?" Victoria asked Garrus as she was walking through Zakera Ward of the Citadel. With her flying on Cerberus' vessel, Alliance military docks were closed to her. They had to use one of the commercial moorings on the Wards of the Citadel.

"Yes Shepard, it will be delivered to the Normandy," Garrus replied and added, "I also took the liberty of buying several upgrades for weapons. If Cerberus pays for this mission we might as well shake their pockets."

"Good, we will need all the edges we can have against the Collectors," Victoria said and then turned to Mordin. "Tell me Professor, what happened back there with Valern? He looked like someone gave him a verbal beating."

"His Dalatrass, Hameya. Had dealings with her for some time in the past. Appears she still values my expertise," Mordin replied casually. "Whatever she told him must have been unpleasant."

"She must be very respected to be able to talk to a Councilor like that," Shepard noted, surprised byt this piece of information.

"He defers to her because that's what Salarian males do. Such is the structure of our society," Mordin said. "Essentially she is a Salarian Councilor. Valern is just spokesperson."

"Why she is not a Councilor in the first place?" Victoria asked with a frown.

"Being a Councilor implies being a public person. Dalatrasses are not very public," Mordin said and seeing the puzzled look on Shepard's face quickly added. "It's a cultural thing."

Before she could ask him to elaborate, Victoria's omni-tool beeped signaling the arrival of a new mail. She activated it and saw that there was a message from Councilor Anderson.

_Shepard._

_In light of your previous actions and additional information you provided about your possible involvement with Cerberus, the Council voted to reinstate your Spectre status. Only partially: you won't be able to use the Spectre's resources but as before you are free to act outside of Council's laws and regulations. You don't have to file reports as before, though any information concerning Council's space security would be appreciated._

_I also wanted to inform you that I just spoke with Admiral Hackett. The System Alliance reinstated you fully. You probably know that upon your 'death' you were posthumously promoted to Staff Commander. As a Spectre, you are still outside of the Alliance command structure._

_On a personal note: I know Shepard everything is not as you expected it to be. I swear to you Shepard upon my life that I tried to make the Council take your warnings seriously, but it's like beating your head against the wall. Guess I'm just not cut for this line if work. You recommended me as humanity's Councilor and I failed you spectacularly. _

_Good luck on your mission Shepard. I'd tell you not to trust Cerberus, but I think you already know that._

_Anderson._

"Well, that's something at least," Victoria murmured closing her omni-tool.

"Who was that?" Garrus asked.

"I was partially reinstated as Spectre," Shepard told him. "No access to Council recourses, but I can break the law and get away with it."

"That means that they gave you something completely useless," Garrus smirked. "You couldn't break the law even if your life depended on it."

"Sure I can!" Shepard retorted lightly.

"No, you can't," Garrus replied teasingly.

"You want to bet that I'm going to break the law in the next half an hour," Shepard offered.

"This clanless is a thief! I demand her to be arrested!" Shepard heard some Volus shouting frantically nearby. She turned her head at the commotion and saw a clearly agitated Volus, a Quarian woman and a C-sec officer who was taking the testimony.

Victoria sniffed the air. "I smell a racist…" she murmured and moved to interfere.

_Several minutes later…_

"You left your credit chit at the Saronis Applications. Speak with the owner if want to get it back," Shepard told the Volus, barely holding her anger. The stupid ball was just clumsy but instead of simply looking for his chit, he had to accuse the Quarian girl of stealing it just because of the 'Quarian s are thieves' stereotype.

"Oh, well she could have stolen it," the Volus replied and turned to leave.

"I'll close this report for now but I'll be watching you," C-sec officer addressed the Quarian , still glaring at her suspiciously. "Get a permanent residence or I'll arrest you for vagrancy."

That did it for Shepard. She decided to give those two a good lesson on tolerance towards different races.

"Are you two serious?" Victoria asked angrily, taking a step towards them.

"What…" the Volus managed before turning back and finding himself looking at a very angry Shepard's face.

Victoria lowered herself to his level. "You falsely accuse the girl of stealing from you, and instead of an apology you say that 'she could have stolen it'?" She then pushed him for good measure.

"Now wait a minute…" The Volus was about to retort, but Shepard already stood up, turned to the C-Sec officer and grabbed him by the collar.

"And you! She gets harassed by this guy and you threaten to run her in for vagrancy?" Shepard asked the C-Sec, her voice already that of pure malice.

"How about I run you in for striking a security officer and obstruction of justice?" The man replied, trying to look tough.

Shepard smiled evilly. "You can't run in a Spectre, son," she said and saw the officer's eyes start to widen in recognition. "Boy, you are so going to get it!"

_Several minutes later, outside of Zakera Ward's C-sec office…_

"Seriously Shepard, was that really necessary?" Captain Bailey asked Victoria while rubbing his temples.

Victoria grinned. "I'm currently being viewed as radical xenophobe because of my ties with Cerberus. I used that situation as an opportunity to prove that I'm completely impartial to any species in the galaxy, including my own."

Bailey snorted. "Yeah, and you proved it by protecting a homeless Quarian girl from a biased Volus and overeager human C-Sec officer. You kicked the officer in the nuts and rolled the Volus down the street and into the staircase."

"They had it coming," Shepard said defensively.

"I'm not saying that they didn't. What I'm saying is that you do not fully understand the ramifications of your actions," Bailey said wearily.

"I'm not sure I follow," Shepard said, puzzled by the C-sec officer's statement.

"You're Spectre, a first human Spectre no less. When you do stunts like those you set up a trend," Bailey rubbed his eyes. "My guts tell me I'm gonna see a lot of rolling Voluses by the end of the week."

Shepard stifled a chuckle and was about to reply when she saw two people she, Mordin and Garrus were waiting for. "Later, Captain," she said to Bailey and turned to leave.

"Just do me a favor and don't blow up my Ward!" Bailey shouted from his desk.

The two people Shepard was waiting for were her "Cerberus watchdogs" as she called them now: her current Chief Armory officer Jacob Taylor and Normandy Executive Officer Miranda Lawson. They were both wearing their Cerberus jumpsuits (though Miranda's case the tern catsuit was more appropriate) because Citadel was not a war zone. The suits were devoid of Cerberus markings. The first order Victoria gave when she entered the new Normandy was, to put it simply 'No logos or GTFO'. In two days all uniforms, bulkheads, crates and terminals were cleaned of any indication that rhey were a Cerberus property.

Jacob Taylor was a former Alliance marine officer, who, like most of the current Normandy's crew, quit the Alliance when brass tried to downplay Shepard's achievements. At least that was what Taylor told Victoria. If he was telling the truth, then Shepard would have no trouble working with him, he seemed to be a good guy. On the other hand, he could be an extremely good liar and she should keep an eye on him. Time would tell.

Miranda was… more complicated. Shepard already knew that her father engineered the woman for perfection as a part of his dynasty. She run away from him and joined Cerberus for protection against her father, who is said to be a very powerful businessman. Shepard had an inkling that there was something else, beside Miranda's own safety, that Cerberus offered to the woman to ensure her loyalty. Miranda was smart and calculating woman, so the idea of her joining Cerberus to "ensure human dominance" was out of the question. No, there had to be something else. Shepard just had to figure it out, because Miranda could be a very powerful ally. Hell, in some other universe where Miranda was not working for Cerberus, she and Victoria would have quickly become friends.

"Commander," Jacob nodded as a greeting. "How did the meeting with the Council go?"

"Ask XO Lawson here for her best guess and it wouldn't completely off the mark. Illusive Man made sure of that," Shepard said and turned to look at Miranda's reaction. Miranda crossed her arms and held Victoria's gaze. No guilt in her eyes. Her posture and expression spoke: Not my actions – not my responsibility. Good. Shepard did not expect anything less from her.

Victoria quickly filled them in on her reinstatements into the Spectres and the Alliance. Miranda noted that this would only benefit their mission. Shepard then asked for both operatives to report on their assignments.

"We have secured the provisions Mess Sergeant Gardner asked you to get," Miranda reported briskly. "We also secured several latest armor and tech upgrades. Since your meeting with the Council is concluded, we should contact Katsumi Goto and continue our mission."

"Right, she said to use the advertising terminal near customs office," Shepard said, remembering the dossier of the famous master thief. "I'll deal with it. Lawson, Taylor, report to the Normandy and double check all deliveries, including weapon mods and armor Garrus obtained."

"Will do Commander," Jacob told and turned to leave.

"There was something else, Commander," Miranda told quickly "The Illusive Man sent me the information about one of our cells dropping off the grid recently. Project Overlord. I don't know the details but it looks like we're dealing with a VI breakout. Since we are still waiting for a lead on the Collectors, we can investigate. I'll forward all the details to you once I'm on board the Normandy."

"Alright, carry on," Shepard nodded. Something told her that with Cerberus involved it is not going to be an average VI breakout, but something far more sinister.

She was about to go to the customs office when something caught her eye.

"Ooh, fish!" Shepard exclaimed and trotted to a shop named Citadel Souvenirs.

_Several minutes of happy shopping later…_

Shepard exited the Citadel Souvenirs carrying three boxes with model ships. Garrus was walking beside her with a plastic reservoir that contained both blue Illium Skald fishes and golden Thessian sunfishes. Garrus had one of his eyes plastered to the reservoir studying the fish movements.

"I really don't understand the humans' fascination with fish tanks. How does this help you relax?" Garrus said, clearly puzzled. "If I look at them for another half hour, I'll probably want to catch and then eat them."

"Humans are hunters by necessity, not by nature. React differently to harmonic movements of the fish," Mordin offered his opinion as a xenobiologist. "It's a good antidepressant for them. Stabilizes the blood pressure. Similar to the Asari in this regard."

The mentioning of the Asari once again brought Shepard's thoughts to Liara. The Illusive Man said that she was working on Illium for the Shadow Broker, and therefore 'should not be trusted'. Right now, Shepard was certain that this was an elaborate lie to try to make Victoria think she could not trust even her lover. She would have to contact Liara and… Shepard was not so sure if she should contact her now. What if Liara moved on? What if she… found someone else?

"Having trouble with the collectors? Try Kasumi credit services!" The ginger voice announced from the nearby terminal. Once again, Shepard was glad to be brought back to reality. She then caught a familiar name and approached the terminal.

"Commander Shepard! Please enter a password and receive a free gift," The same voice announced. The image of a hooded woman was shown on the advertisement.

"Um, silence is golden," Shepard replied.

"Good to finally meet you Commander Shepard. Kasumi Goto. I'm a fan," The hooded woman announced happily.

Shepard was already warming up to this woman's cheerful demeanor. "I assume Cerberus briefed you on our mission?" She asked.

Kasumi's eyes glittered under her hood. "We're off to save the Galaxy! Not my usual line of work, but Cerberus had made quite an offer. They said I would get the help of famous Commander Shepard with a certain personal business of mine. A heist, to be precise."

"And of course they forgot to ask me about that," Victoria sighed. Just like with Zaeed Massani.

"Well, you know how mega corporations work: you should always read between the lines of a contract," Kasumi noted.

"Pffsh, my mother likes saying: There is always a catch. Life is a catch, so I suggest you catch it while you can," Shepard replied and then mentally facepalmed herself. Damn it. Mother. Victoria was awake for seven days and still hadn't called her mom.

"She sounds like a wise woman. We should throw a tea ceremony sometime in the future!" Kasumi giggled.

"Tea ceremony sounds nice," Victoria said. "Anyway, about the heist. I take it we're not going to simply rob someone for the sake of credits?"

"I'm looking for my old partner's graybox. A man named Donovan Hock took it and I'm planning to get it back," Kasumi replied. "We're going to infiltrate his mansion during a party and break into his personal vault."

"A party, hm? Do I get to wear a slinky dress, high heels and makeup?" Shepard asked the master thief.

"Of course you do," Kasumi replied with a grin. "It will be fun! And if we are lucky you would not need to use a gun."

"Deal!" Shepard announced. "Do you need help getting your things on the Normandy?"

"I have already smuggled my stuff on board," Kasumi winked. "See you on the ship Shepard."

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Victoria was looking at the already inhabited fish tank in her quarters. Kasumi was already on board, where she took residence in one of portside personal cabins. Since the new Normandy was almost twice as big as the original, several design changes were made. It was no longer a cramped Alliance warship with sleeping pods for everyone. The SR-2 had several of those, though they were to be used as a last resort if no free sleeping places remained. For the ship crew there was the common room and there were also twelve personal cabins: six on the port side and six on the starboard side. Four of them were already taken by Jacob, Mordin, Garrus and Kasumi respectively. Zaeed grumbled something about 'not liking the crowded places' and set up shop in the port side cargo hold on the lower deck. Miranda as an XO was entitled to her own quarters; they were located where Shepard's cabin should have been by design. Victoria's cabin was located above the CIC in the 'loft'.<p>

Shepard set up the feeding cycle of the fish tank and moved to her work place. She sat down, took a deep breath and started establishing a connection with her mother. Her ship models stand darkened and turned into a huge display. There was a flashing message "Establishing real-time FTL connection to SSV Orizaba" on screen. Then the message disappeared and was replaced by what was essentially a much older version of Victoria Shepard wearing Alliance blues with captain stripes.

"This is Captain Hannah Shepard. Who am I talking to?" The woman asked sternly, and Victoria nearly jumped to stand at attention.

"Um, hi Mom…" was all Victoria could manage.

Hannah's expression turned into a scowl. "When you were six, we were moving to another station. What were you carrying?" Shepard's mother asked in a tone that sounded almost like an interrogation.

"Uh… sorry, what?" Victoria asked, caught off guard by her mother's question.

"Answer the question or I'll cut the line!" Captain Shepard threatened.

Victoria racked her brains. "It was a plant. You know, the one with big leaves that somehow manages to survive without natural light," she answered quickly, briefly wondering if her mother still had it.

"The name of the plant!" Hannah demanded.

"I don't know!" Victoria answered nervously because she truthfully did not. She then thought for a moment and added. "You know, I actually think that you don't know either."

The older Shepard's face was still for several seconds and then softened. A warm smile appeared on her face. "Well, I never thought it mattered. Took you long enough to contact your mother."

"Sorry Mom, it was a crazy week," Shepard answered.

"'Crazy week' that lasted for four months?" Hannah asked quirking her eyebrow.

"Oh, so you too have heard. Listen…" Victoria then spent several minutes retelling her recent activities. She told of her body's recovery by Cerberus and reason why they did it. She told of her reinstatements and her current mission of hunting the Collectors.

Hannah Shepard was silent for a moment. Then she spoke. "And to think I have written all those petitions for an expedition to look for your remains." Hannah snorted. "If I had succeeded you would be… Never mind that. Tell me sunshine, how are you feeling? I mean really feeling."

"I'm… good," Victoria replied honestly.

"Don't lie to your mother, young lady," Her mother told her seriously. "You're back from dead! You can't feel good by definition."

"Honestly, Mom, I am! Sure, some of the scars still itch. Waking up in the hands of a terrorist organization sucks. The Council's denial sucks. One of my friends, Garrus - you remember him? - nearly died from the explosion and it sucks too. He is better now," Shepard stopped, and then smiled slightly. "Yet dying is far worse. The feeling of being alive once again… It is difficult to describe with words. All colors are brighter, the food tastier. Even touching cold metal surfaces with bare hands and feet is an intoxicating experience. No matter how much shit the universe is willing to throw my way, I am simply too happy to breathe once again."

"I would say that I understand but that would be a lie," Hannah replied, her eyes glistening. "You were given a second chance, and yet you once again throw yourself in danger to protect the galaxy. There never was and never will be a more proud mother than me, honey."

Victoria's eyes were watering. "Thank you mother, I… thank you."

The older Shepard wiped her tears and smiled. "You said Vakarian was with you. Is there anyone else from your former crew?"

Victoria also wiped her eyes and was glad to change the topic. She told her mother about her current crew. Shepard also mentioned Tali'Zorah, whom Victoria met during her investigation of Freedom's Progress. Although the young Quarian wasn't able to join Shepard's crew at that moment, she promised to help once she deals with some business for the Flotilla.

"Have you contacted your girl, Liara?" Victoria's mother asked.

Shepard rubbed her neck. "My girl? You mean you know about us?" she asked nervously. She never told her mother about Liara. Hell, she never told her mother that she was into women.

"Well I had an inkling that you were in the 'girls only club' for some time," Hannah said and smiled at her daughter's discomfort. "Please sunshine, we're not in the Middle Ages, I won't judge you. As to young Dr. T'Soni, well, you two were subtle, but not much."

"Oh, and what gave us away?" Victoria asked curiously.

"The way she supported you when you were limping out of the Presidium Tower. The way you two held hands during the victory celebrations," Hannah remarked. "And the way Liara cried when you… you know. That pretty summed it up."

Victoria wanted mentally to beat herself senseless for putting Liara through this. She remembered how inconsolable Liara was after her mother's death. And several months later Liara lost the second closest person in the universe. Shepard was not sure if she should wander into Liara's life once again.

"I don't know, Mom. It's been two years for her. And I'm not sure if I'll see the same Liara I knew. She saw me suffocating in space. Those moments change you," Shepard mumbled.

"Tell her, my daughter. Trust me, no matter how painful your reunion can be, the life in doubt is far worse."

"Yeah, I guess I will. Thanks Mom. I have to go. Hugs and kisses," Shepard told her mother their traditional goodbye phrase.

"Hugs and kisses. Stay safe out there my girl," Hannah smiled and ended the communication.

Shepard sighed and started to think how to contact Liara. She was not ready to talk via FTL connection. She needed to meet Liara in person. Therefore, she decided to simply write a message and see how it goes. She entered Liara's personal Extranet account by memory and started to type. She spent nearly an hour constantly rewriting the message and then stopped on a simple letter.

_Hey, Angel Eyes._

_It's me, Vic. You probably heard that I'm not dead. People say you're an information broker so you probably did. You probably also heard about Cerberus. It's complicated but I'll explain everything. Later. I need to deal with some stuff here in Terminus, it's about missing colonies. I can say that Collectors are involved. As soon as I get a break, I'll try to reach you. You're on Illium right? So, until then I guess._

_Miss you so much._

_Love, Shepard._

Victoria quickly hit the send button before doubts overwhelmed her. She just had to wait and see how it goes. Then Shepard searched the extranet for some of Liara's photos. Her personal collection was destroyed with the first Normandy. She found several decent ones, downloaded them to a small holographic screen, and placed it on her desk.

Shepard decided to return to the business of saving the galaxy. She still had two dossiers to check. Moreover, there was the Project Overlord. Shepard skimmed through the intel Miranda sent her. Usage of the Geth technology. A lot of automatic defenses. A real paradise for a rogue VI. Illusive Man's pet mad scientists have fucked up once again and he needed Shepard to clean up the mess.

Shepard entertained the idea of telling the Illusive Man to do his dirty work himself. Then the images from Lazarus cell flashed through her mind. Images of Cerberus personnel banging on the bulletproof glass and pleading for help before the mechs gunned them down. Victoria knew that not all Cerberus were bad guys. She had her ship crew that proved that point. If there was someone still alive in the Overlord cell, Shepard would go there and save him or her.

She pondered if she should first get the last two operatives, but decided against it. Neither the convict nor the krogan warlord seemed to be in any immediate danger. Jack, a powerful human biotic was in the cryo-stasis on the prison ship, and krogan was working for the Blue Suns. Or most likely they were working for him.

Shepard raised her head and addressed EDI, the Normandy's Artificial Intelligence.

"EDI, tell Joker to set course for Phoenix Massing, Typhon System."

"Acknowledged Shepard," EDI replied in her almost monotonous voice. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you, EDI."

"Logging you out Shepard," EDI replied before her holographic avatar winked out.

Suddenly, a strange feeling almost overwhelmed Shepard. A feeling that something big is about to happen. The last time she had such a feeling when she found out about the true nature of the Sovereign. Victoria shook her head and hoped that this time 'something big' was going to be a good thing.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Orbit of Hive world Carmalia, Frigate of the Imperium of Man's Most Holy Inquisition <em>Unwavering Watcher<em>. Year circa M42.**

Captain August Gallardi suddenly understood that he was 35 years old.

At least that was what the official Imperial date on his reports was telling him. He made many warp travels during his service to the Emperor and because of that it was nearly impossible to tell his actual age. He could be five years younger or ten years older. The latter was more probable because he sure felt as one.

It also meant that it was roughly 25 years since he entered the Emperor's service as a storm trooper recruit in the Schola Progenium of his homeworld Harakon. Schola Progenium was the military academy for the orphans of Imperial officers and other distinguished servants of the Emperor. August was one of such orphans. His mother, Arcadia Livingston, was Imperial Navy captain, commander of Dauntless-class light cruiser 'Wings of Harakon', and part of Livingston dynasty – one of the few proud Harakoni naval dynasties.

August's father, Leonard Gallardi, was senior armsman on 'Wings of Harakon'. He knew very little of him. Only that his mother spoke highly of him and that he was killed repelling heretic boarders when August was 3 years old.

August knew he was an unexpected result of his parents' relationship, though not an unloved one. His mother made it certain in each and every message she was able to send him. She explained that due to her dynasty policies about the offspring of its members he could not bear her last name. Nevertheless, she said that she will always be his mother and he will always be her beloved 'little sparrowhawk'.

Emperor's blood, how he hated when his mother called him that. And Emperor alone knew how August missed it when she was gone.

The news of her death arrived two weeks after his tenth birthday. The 'Wings of Harakon' was part of the fleet controlling the space around Cadia. When heretics' fleet once again tried to break through the Imperial blockade to assist the heretics' forces on the surface of Cadia, her ship was badly crippled by a glancing shot from a Chaos battleship's main lance batteries. She managed to maneuver her ship on a collision course with the enormous heretic's troopship. The troopship captain was so determined to deliver his troops to Cadia that he was moving too fast to avoid the light cruiser. The resulting explosion took out both 'Wings of Harakon' and the troopship with its 300 000 contingent of heretic troops. The shockwave damaged another three Chaos escort vessels.

It was a death worthy of the most legendary heroes. August knew that. His only wish was that he could have met his mother in person when she was still alive.

The next day after receiving news of his mother, August found himself standing before the Schola Progenium clerk who had to decide the young man's fate. At that time, the Schola seriously lacked in commissars and storm trooper recruits as well as the Sororitas novices. August could not join the Sororitas for obvious reasons, and he was not talkative enough to be a commissar. That is how he became a storm trooper cadet.

When eight years later his training at the Schola was complete, he and another 1500 storm troopers were assigned to the various newly mustered Imperial Guard regiments or as a replacement to those units that suffered casualties. August was assigned to his homeworld's famous grav-chute troopers - the Harakoni Warhawks, particularly to a newly mustered 511th Harakoni drop trooper regiment.

Sixteen years passed. Sixteen grueling years of head spinning rapid deployments and low orbit drops on a dozens of worlds across the Imperium. He steadily rose through the ranks of his storm trooper detail, mostly because his superiors tended to die while he survived despite many injuries. He nearly died during his participation in the cleansing of Cadia, which was still infested with heretics' forces, sixteen years after Augusts' mother valiant sacrifice in the orbit of the same planet. Imperial command promoted him to captain but seeing that he and his unit, already reduced from regiment to 511th drop trooper battalion, needed some time recovering decided that that they can recover while transferring to another front on Imperium's southern borders. There the tyranids' new Hive Fleet Leviathan was rapidly pushing towards the heart of the Imperium.

It was on the agriworld Sataria Captain Gallardi finally met his current master - inquisitor Sarebas. His battalion was ordered to deploy deep within tyranid-infested territory to extract the inquisitor and his retinue with "valuable intelligence". Gallardi lost half of his unit trying to get to the objective. Not because he was incompetent, far from it. There were simply too many tyranids. He lost another half of his unit trying to cover inquisitor's team extraction. The last thing he remembered was a bioplasma explosion ten meters from his position. His oldest friend, Sergeant Sorenson, shielded him from the blast but Gallardi was still knocked unconscious. He did not expect to wake up because the tyranids were getting very close to his position.

Except that he did wake up, already in the medical ward of 'Unwavering Watcher', inquisitor Sarebas' personal ship, where the inquisitor thanked August for his assistance and then offered him the dubious honor of joining his retinue. Gallardi was smart enough to know that Inquisition's "offers" were nothing short of direct orders from the Emperor Himself. He asked why the inquisitor would be interested in simple guard officer like him, but the answer was simple: Sarebas lost some of his retinue to the tyranids and needed to replenish his hired muscle…

August shook himself from recollection of his past. He scooped up the dataslates with reports, stood up from his desk and set off to the inquisitor's chambers to give Sarebas his summary. The reports he was carrying were from the local law enforcements and Adeptus Arbites and were stating pretty much the same thing that they were stating a week ago: possible presence of xenos on the planet, particularly the eldar, and a possibility of a xenos worshipping cult. It was only because they were xenos that the Arbites had not already purged the possible cult locations. The information was forwarded to the Inquisition and because inquisitor Sarebas was the closest member of the Ordo Xenos, the branch of the Inquisition that dealt with aliens, he was tasked to investigate.

Eldar. The only time Gallardi fought against this particular breed of xenos was 5 years ago when eldar raiders tried to board their troop carrier, somehow thinking it was an easy prey. The xenos were killed to the last men, paying dearly for their insolence (or stupidity, it was hard to tell with aliens). Now, working for the Ordo Xenos for several months, August knew those were not exactly eldar but their sinister kin. Imperium called them dark eldar, the eldar called them druchii. The difference was pretty much the same as the one between human heretical Chaos worshipers and loyal servants of the Imperium.

Inquisitor Sarebas almost immediately stated that here on Carmalia they were not dealing with dark eldar. It was not their style. They would raid, pillage and enslave the civilian population rather than sneak around in the shadows, as their current adversaries were. That didn't improve the situation by a great margin. Where the eldar were concerned, trouble was sure to follow.

Lost in his thoughts about eldar, August nearly collided with Magos Wasserman, the Mechanicus adept from the inquisitor's retinue.

"Ah, captain. Off to report to the inquisitor, I guess," Wasserman asked, his voice synthetic because a breathing and vox apparatus replaced his lungs and mouth. Like most members of his order, he had replaced many parts of his body with implants and augmentics. All to be closer to the image of the Machine God he worshiped.

"Greetings Magos, and yes, I will deliver my summary to him shortly," August replied curtly.

"Then you can spare my time by also giving him his weapon," Wasserman produced a plasma pistol from the fold of his robe. "Tell him I finished all repairs and even implemented some technology from tau plasma weaponry. Should be less prone to overheating now"

Gallardi carefully took the potent weapon and examined it. The weapon looked no different from when he had last seen it, before so whatever improvements were made by the magos they had to be inside the weapon.

"You improved the pistol using xenotech?" August asked curiously.

"No, I reverse engineered the xenotech and then used it to improve the weapon," Wasserman replied almost happily (or so Gallardi thought, you could never be sure with Mechanicus adepts)

"And the difference is?" August asked his expression puzzled.

"The difference is that I used brains that were given to me by the Machine God, broke down both xenos' weapon and the inquisitor's gun and looked for differences. Found out that tau weapons use more effective heat venting systems, and then created similar systems in the inquisitors gun," Magos eagerly explained while furiously gesticulating with his arms and mechadentrites "Essentially there is nothing alien in the gun, used the idea and not the actual parts from tau weapon."

Gallardi was sure there was some technoheresy in there, but that was Wasserman for you: never the one to follow the religious dogmas of his order and to appease the machine spirits by constantly muttering incantations. He always told August that proper maintenance and cleaning would make the machine spirits far happier than useless babbling. That was probably why he was part of the inquisitor's retinue. They tended to attract eccentric individuals.

"Also repaired the outer casing on your hotshot lasgun, already put it in the armory," Magos continued, "Try not to bend it on some genestealer's skull in the future, will you? That's a ranged weapon for a reason."

"And that was exactly the reason I used it as a club: ranged weapons tend to run out of ammo in the most inconvenient moments," August replied jokingly.

"Already have a solution for that, have picked up new drum shaped powerpacks for you on Carmalia's Inquisition equipment stores. They are rarely used because they make the weapon a little too heavy but you shouldn't have much trouble," Wasserman has informed him, already turning to leave.

"Thank you Magos, I will put them to good use," Gallardi bowed slightly and turning to inquisitor's chambers smiling slightly. He had wanted to get his hands on the drum shaped powerpacks for some time. Working for the Inquisition had its privileges.

August finally approached the door to the inquisitor's room and pressed the button near the door to announce his presence to Sarebas. When he heard a muffled reply from the room, he opened the room and entered.

Sarebas was sitting at his desk looking intently at some sort of ancient tome. Gallardi could see that the script was alien, although he could not tell whose exactly the language was.

"The latest batch of reports, my lord," Gallardi told the inquisitor showing him the pack of dataslates.

"Will I see something new in them?" Sarebas asked without lifting his gaze from the book.

"They confirm all early information about the xenos presence," Gallardi told him and then added. "They also narrowed down the location of possible cult gatherings to one of the locations mentioned previously. The one in the Lower Hive near the waste dump tubes."

"Yes, my own sources tell me the same," the inquisitor stated. The "sources" he was referring to were probably his psychic abilities. Gallardi had seen the inquisitor use them in battle and could say that Sarebas was a potent psyker if a little too impatient. His strategy was to hit the enemy so hard that he would not recover from the blow. It had worked well so far, but only the Emperor knew for how long it would continue to do so.

"It is settled then," Sarebas continued. "We will move immediately. I feel slight disturbances in the warp. It is possible that the xenos will try to carry out some sort of ritual. Whatever they are planning must not be finished."

"I will inform the team and the Arbites. We can also order the PDF to mobilize and provide support…" Gallardi began.

"No!" The inquisitor lifted his eyes from the tome and stared at the captain. "If we move in force the eldar will escape and we might never find out what they were up to. No, this operation requires discretion. Only the team will go."

"My lord, I must object. We have no idea of the enemy's exact numbers," Gallardi replied hastily. "Also, they are eldar. There is a high probability they will have psykers with them."

"Do not concern yourself about the enemy's psykers, I'm more than capable of dealing with them." Sarebas replied nonchalantly. "You place too much faith in the bunch of xenos. My decision stands: only me and my retinue."

"Yes, my lord I will spread the orders immediately," Gallardi replied, giving up. He then placed the plasma pistol on the inquisitor's desk. "Magos Wasserman asked me to deliver you this with his regards."

"Ah, yes. And did he finish the… 'upgrades'?" Sarebas asked as he gingerly picked up the weapon. Gallardi nodded. "Good. You are dismissed, Captain."

Gallardi left the inquisitor's room and moved to order his teammates to prepare. The closest room led to Sahi, the death cult assassin. Sahi was actually the sole reason August survived the Sataria. When he was knocked out the diminutive assassin managed to drag him to the last Valkyrie transport, which was no small feat. The Harakon is a low gravity world so all its inhabitants are naturally tall, Gallardi himself being a little over two meters tall. When he asked Sahi why she risked her life to save him, she answered: "The Emperor told me to" and refused to elaborate further.

Sahi was sitting cross-legged with her back to the door, holding her slightly curved two-handed blade horizontally before her. "Is it time?" The assassin asked in her rasping whisper.

"Yes. Gear up and meet everyone in the shuttle bay," Gallardi replied.

"I will be there" Sahi replied but did not move. August left her room knowing that she would be the first one in the hangar.

He then moved to the room that belonged to Bruno Dotman, a mercenary from the feral world of Birmingham. There he found Bruno in his typical makeshift armor, his chainaxe resting against the table. He also found there another member of the inquisitor's retinue - Zeck Urengoy. Zeck was Sarebas' main interrogator. He was also a former criminal whose specialty was chemical terrorism. As a way of repentance, he was offered a chance to use his skills in service to the Inquisition, which meant he could continue doing what he did best on a legal basis.

"Oi! Capn' come 'ere and 'have a drink with us" Bruno boomed in his thickly accented Low Gothic.

"Later Bruno, the inquisitor needs everyone geared up in shuttle bay as soon as possible." Gallardi told to both agents.

"That be a good reason to drink, just to keep the blood pumping 'efore battle!" Bruno replied taking another swing from the bottle of amasec.

"Come now Bruno, you know our glorious Captain will not lower himself to drink with the likes of us," Zeck said acidly from his seat.

"You don't speak 'bout the capn' like that! He is good with that 'atchet of his. Saved my bacon like what, three times already?" Bruno retorted.

"Now that you mention it, let us drink for the glorious captain Gallardi, The Mighty Chopper of xenos!" Zeck replied, his voice full of sarcasm.

"Oi, I'll drink to that!" Bruno boomed once again but Gallardi was already leaving the room. He knew Zeck didn't like him and the feeling was mutual. Although, August disliked the man because he considered Zeck extremely unreliable. Zeck would most likely jump ship if something bad happened to the inquisitor. As to why Zeck hated Gallardi, well, the reason became obvious only recently.

The same reason was walking down the corridor carrying a box of grenades. Jocasta Angelidis was a former Arbites enforcer, now working for inquisitor as his main investigator. Zeck was trying to get in her good graces (which meant into her panties) for some time without success. Jocasta, of course, was not interested, because she was Arbitrator and had nothing but deep contempt for criminal scum like Zeck. Yet when Gallardi became part of the team, he and Jocasta quickly became friends. They both where former Schola Progenium cadets and shared the love of guns, big guns, blowing stuff up and both had a long history of Schola pranks.

This rattled Zeck pretty strongly. He even tried to get back at them by voicing his concerns to the inquisitor of possible "romantic liaison" between the two. Sarebas, being the psyker, quickly dismissed that, although he told Gallardi that if he was thinking of having such a relationship, he should throw the idea out of his head because it would somehow "decrease the team's efficiency".

Gallardi told him that this should not become an issue. Of course, Jocasta was an attractive woman despite several scars on her face and optical implant she was sporting after losing an eye, but they were both professional enough to hold whatever feelings there might be in check.

"What's the word, August? Are we back in business?" Jocasta asked cheerfully, moving into team's armory with her box.

"Yup, get everything you need and then get a little more," Gallardi replied entering the armory and moving to check his hotshot lasgun.

"Let me guess. We are doing it alone without backup," she placed the grenade box on the workbench and started to don her armor. "Again. Damn it."

"Tell me about it. ' This operation calls for discretion '." August mocked the inquisitor's voice. He started checking the new powerpacks. Each had the capacity of five powerclips, and he could carry one in the gun and three spare. It would roughly quadruple his usual overall ammo capacity.

"I see Wasserman gave you new toys," Jocasta glanced at him while attaching grenades to her belt.

"Something tells me I am really going to need them," August said as he moved to put on his storm trooper carapace armor.

"Don't worry, it's not like we can do much against the inquisitor's wishes," She told him, picking up her combat shotgun and heavy caliber solid slug pistol. "You know, if we are lucky, the xenos will take care of Zeck," she added with a grin.

"Ha! Hell no," August snorted. "You know the Emperor loves us very much but not _that_ much."

At the mentioning of His name, Jocasta made the sign of Aquila. "Trust Him, August. He will guide us through the darkness," she added reverently

Gallardi nodded. "The Emperor protects, Jocasta."

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Hive world Carmalia, Hive Secundus, Lower Hive, abandoned Munitorum warehouse.<strong>

Farseer Maeteris was tired.

She was tired of constantly supporting the illusion spell she was using to hide her kin's movements on this cursed mon-keigh planet. Not that it did her any good. She was aware that she made several slip-ups and mon-keigh agents had detected their presence in this 'hive city'. She knew it was her fault because she was not very experienced with wide area incantations. This was natural because she attained the title of Farseer only recently. At least in eldar terms. On mon-keigh terms it was almost thirty years.

Maeteris of Craftworld Ulthwe was an oddity to many eldar. Born on the Craftworld that was almost constantly battling the forces of Chaos, her first choice of Path was that of the Artist. No one openly berated her for this choice, but she saw the disapproval in others' eyes. She loved to dance and play on the wraithbone horn but she understood that she could not protect her home like many other young eldar did. Then one day she got caught in the middle of another raid launched by mon-keigh Chaos worshippers. She was saved by the warriors of the Howling Banshees Aspect. While Maeteris cowered in the rubble, the lithe warriors quickly dispatched the clumsy mon-keigh. Maeteris was mesmerized by the movements of the Banshees who didn't fight but danced the dance of death. That day Maeteris decided to step on the Path of the Warrior.

Many cycles later when Maeteris became a renowned warrior of the Howling Banshees Aspect, most of her kin was sure she would become a powerful Exarch of her aspect. It came as a great surprise when one day she came into Howling Banshees' Temple and surrendered her armor and helmet declaring that she would abandon the Path of the Warrior. When she was asked why, she answered that her usually meager psychic abilities started to develop rapidly. Therefore she felt she could play a greater role in the protection of Craftworld as a seer than as a warrior. Thus Maeteris stepped on her final Path. The Path of the Seer.

Though at first she acted as a Warlock, leading her kin into battle and assisting them with her psychic abilities, her skill in manipulating the Warp started to rise exponentially. She started to receive her first glimpses in the complex web of future events. Several cycles later she became part of the Seer Council of Farseer Idranel. She helped Idranel on many occasions and as time passed she became her trusted advisor. Maeteris admired the strength and determination of the vaunted Farseer. The only thing she did not understand was her complete distrust of the mon-keigh. True, most of them were fickle and weak willed but some like Space Marines could be a useful tool in the hand of a skillful manipulator. During the Aurelian Campaign Maeteris advised to use the Space Marines instead of orks as a weapon against the tyranids. But Idranel was not swayed from the path that ultimately led her to her death at the hands of Space Marines.

Maeteris was spared from sharing her mistress' fate some time before Idranel decided to lead the assault on the mon-keigh world of Meridian. Maeteris was sent back to the Craftworld. Maeteris pleaded Idranel to let her stay and help, but Idranel stated that Maeteris had a different destiny and that it was a high time for her to become a Farseer in her own right. Back on the Craftworld the Farseers' council debated for some time on whether to declare Maeteris a Farseer or not. The purpose of the debate eluded Maeteris because the choice was pretty obvious: she was already lost on the Path of the Seer and delaying her induction into Farseers would not change that.

_Maybe the old hags were just jealous of your ample breasts…_

_My breasts are not 'ample'! Sure, they are a little bigger than the average but it's nothing unnatural… Exarch Sezem's are even bigger… And it's not like eldar place great value in body curves like the mon-keigh…_

Maeteris slapped herself mentally. Those were not her thoughts, she was not some druchii to think of such things. No, these were whispers from outside of her mind. Her mental fatigue has started to manifest itself. It also meant another thing: the mon-keigh cultists she was hunting started to prepare for their ritual. A ritual to bring forth a daemon from the Warp. Maeteris was sent to this world to prevent the coming of said daemon. She knew only one name of this entity: The Crossroads Keeper. The Farseers predicted his return to this world, and it was her responsibility to banish the daemon back to the Warp where it would take him some time to find another way into the material realm. The best way to do this was to strike him down when he was most vulnerable: during the summoning ritual.

Maeteris reinforced her mental barriers and stood up from where she was kneeling in meditation. She put on her helmet and checked the wards on her armor. Then she took her witchblade, a long blade slightly curved at the end. Using a combination of her martial training, dance moves and psychic abilities Maeteris could be a deadly opponent in close combat. She didn't use any ranged weaponry because she trusted her psychic skills to do what was needed. She moved to exit the room she was using as a meditation chamber.

Exarch Ulathar of the Dire Avengers was waiting outside as usual. In the past he and Maeteris were close and she even considered taking him as permanent bondmate. But then he became an Exarch and his life now was fixed on martial prowess and protection of the Craftworld. There was no space for Maeteris.

"Exalted Farseer, the host is-" Ulathar began.

"Assemble whatever forces we have now, Ulathar, we move immediately," Maeteris cut him off with the wave of a hand.

"But Farseer! This is but a small portion of the forces you requested," The Exarch protested. "It would be folly to underestimate our enemies."

"If I wanted to underestimate our current enemies I would have come alone," Maeteris told the him. "It was never a question 'if' but 'how' we achieve victory. I requested those forces so that we could strike decisively and without losses. We will still win with our current numbers, but our losses would be great."

"Then we should have stricken earlier! You know everyone here is ready to do his or her duty and die to protect the Craftworld!" Ulathar exclaimed.

"Yes, I know. But it is my duty as a Farseer to help you do your duty and lead you safely back to the Craftworld," Maeteris patiently replied and added. "Assemble the forces."

Exarch bowed slightly and moved to issue orders. Maeteris knew he would make it through the coming battle. She looked at several of her warriors who were preparing for the battle and she knew that some of them would not survive. It was the burden of being a Farseer to know the possible future and to know that it was rarely bright.

She also knew that it would be Ulathar who would lead the remaining eldar back to Ulthwe. Her own future was uncertain after the battle. It worried her greatly. She always saw the possibilities of different future but not now. Now it was pure uncertainty. It was neither a cold promise of death nor the promise of her soul to be devoured by She Who Thirsts. Now future looked as if it was something yet to be shaped.

There was only one permanent feature in her vision of her future. She was always accompanied by the same creature. It was a bird of prey. On the right wing it had three runes. No, not runes but the mon-keigh digits: 511.

Maeteris sighed. She will not allow the uncertainty to affect her skills and judgment now when so much was at stake. Once again she and her enemies would dance and she would be the better dancer.


	2. The Crossroads Keeper

_So. Over 400 visitors. One of them even from an unknown country. I hope you people like the beginning of the story. I want to thank everyone for reviews, alerts and favs._

_Once again I give you your favorite… DISCLAIMER!_

_Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. In case of possible references to WH40k novels: those novels belong to Black Library and/or their respective authors. In case of possible references to WH40k Dawn of War series: the games belong to THQ._

_Phew, I hope I didn't miss anyone. In case I did – your stuff belongs to you._

_Alright, lets get this circus moving._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: The Crossroads Keeper.<strong>

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Planet Aite, Hermes Station, Communications Relay.**

"Twenty seconds! Move, move!" Shepard shouted to her team as they were leaving the com relay. The capacitors on top of the dish were mined using HE grenades and were set to detonate at the same time. Once the capacitors are gone, the feedhorn support struts will collapse and the feedhorn will fall on the dish, destroying it in the process.

The dish's destruction was necessary because the rogue VI of this base was trying to upload itself off world and into the FTL communication network. Victoria dealt with rogue VIs in the past, and had to admit that this was an unusual behavior. Essentially, the rogue VI usually suffered some programming error, and while it would continue to execute its primary functions, there will be some nasty deviations from the original programming. For example: the VI could see the station personnel not as people, but as a viral contamination or the enemy intruders and will fight those according to the standard procedures.

What Shepard and her team saw on this base, was anything but standard. The VI was using Geth platforms as a security mechs and now was trying to flee the base by uploading itself off world. Victoria knew that no VI was capable of that. It would go against the programming of VI, because the VI was tied to its 'working place'. Outside of its designated area of responsibility it would have no purpose, and will simply shut down. But this VI was acting as if it was trying to protect itself. Victoria could give only one reasonable explanation for such behavior: it was not a VI but another Cerberus AI experiment.

Briefly, Victoria thought about EDI. Could she really trust the Normandy's AI? What if the scientist that created her were as lousy as the people in the Project Overlord, and Shepard was actually sitting on the time bomb just waiting to betray them, because EDI suddenly decides that synthetic life forms are superior to organic, and that she should exterminate them? That would be a shame, because recently Victoria started to warm up on EDI. She was efficient, helped the crew in various tasks around the Normandy and provided sound tactical analysis during the missions. She also had an uncanny ability to get under the Joker's skin which was no small feat. Actually no, it was a really big achievement: people who can throw Joker off balance can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and now EDI was one of them.

The explosions overhead informed Shepard that the twenty seconds were up and the dish started to collapse. Luckily, Victoria along with Garrus and Jacob were on the final walkway that was leading away from the dish. They were only roughly a hundred meters from the safe zone on the catwalks where the rest of the team was waiting for them. The three dashed forward, Garrus easily overtaking both humans due to his physiology. In several seconds they were among the others panting slightly. Then all of them turned to watch the spectacular results of their handiwork.

The immense parabolic dish collapsed with a shattering rumble, creating a small earthquake in the process. It probably took a lot of time to build this relay, but it took roughly ten minutes to bring it down.

"Damn, Shepard! You don't mess around," Zaeed Massani stated with a grin. "They're not going to use that dish any time soon."

"Meh, flimsy civilian design," Victoria responded, still a little winded from recent running. Shepard always had an affinity with structural engineering. If not for her biotics, she would have become a Combat Engineer. As a part of her Sentinel training, she spent some time in the Alliance Corp of Engineers. The Sentinels tended to use tech skills as a support for their biotics, using them to sabotage the enemy's weapons and shields. Victoria excelled in those skills, but also she spent all her available free time with demolitions instructors. She still clearly remembered the unofficial First Rule of Alliance demolition teams: If something does not fall **down**, it can always be blown the fuck **up**.

"Commander Shepard… Are you there? Please respond," Dr Archer's voice crackled in the Victoria's ear. As far as Shepard knew, Archer was a head scientist of this facility, and possibly its only survivor.

"I read you doc. As you might have noticed, the dish is destroyed," Shepard started to move down the catwalks towards the train. "We are heading back to the Hermes Station, and you better have some answers about what is really going on here."

"I… Yes, I'll meet you in the security office," Dr Archer replied. By the way his voice trembled, Shepard knew that he was not looking forward for their conversation.

Once Victoria and her team arrived back to Hermes Station, she ordered her people to tend to the dead personnel. It was evident that Cerberus decided to make budget cuts on the security of this installation. The way the few guards were dispatched by the geth platforms, Cerberus was not planning on the possible VI break out. The other personnel, scientists and technicians, were quickly slaughtered by the geth.

It would seem that the only things Cerberus had in abundance were the body bags. Mordin reported to Victoria that the med bay was stuffed with them. He also said that they will use those and place the bodies in one room, and then they will seal the room and lower the room temperature so that the bodies will be preserved once the relief arrives. It seemed that Cerberus was certain of one thing about their employees: that they had a very low survival rate.

Shepard reached the security office where she finally met Dr Archer. He was an older man, probably around sixty with the look of a person who has done something extremely embarrassing, and was now afraid of people finding out.

"So, Dr Archer, we finally met. Care to explain now just what the hell happened here?" Victoria said crossing her arms.

Archer looked down ashamed, then raised his head and answered: "Man's reach exceeding his grasp. Come inside, this might take some time."

For the next several minutes Archer was explaining the baselines of his team work here. He was droning about a revolutionary research of the idea of geth religious worship of the Rippers. The main goal of this research was to try and plant a new religious figure for geth to follow. A human mind connected directly to the geth network. The human in question was in fact an Archer's brother, David. Archer told that something went awry when they connected David to the network. David started infecting every electronic device they had and turning it against them. Archer no longer knew where the man ended and the machine began.

"That is why we had to destroy the dish. Imagine if David gets off world and hits the Extranet," Archer concluded his story.

"Alright Doctor, give me your worst case scenario," Victoria asked as she looked outside of the security room into the room where the bodies were gathered. Miranda was standing there in here in her black Cerberus Combat Armor. The Cerberus operative was scrolling through the personnel manifest tagging on the names of the accounted. For a moment Miranda stopped, raised her head from the datapad and took a look at the row of bodies. Her shoulders sagged a little and she pinched the bridge of her nose. Shepard smiled slightly: no mater how hard Miranda tried to prove the opposite, Victoria knew there was still a living being under the operative's cold and supposedly uncaring demeanor. Victoria turned to Archer waiting for him to answer her question.

"The worst case scenario would be a technological apocalypse. Every device that has at least a microprocessor would be compromised," Dr Archer answered in a grave voice.

"Then you should not have started the experiment. The risk was too great," Shepard told him sternly.

"Sometimes you have to take risks to achieve results!" Archer tried to justify his actions. "If you haven't gone to Ilos to stop Saren, where would the Galaxy be then?"

"Don't," Shepard cut him short, her eyes narrowing.

"I-I'm sorry, what?" Archer stammered.

"Don't compare yourself to me. Yes, we both take great risks but how we do it is entirely another matter," Victoria started to explain. "Yes, I had indeed taken my team through the lost Mu Relay without knowing the size of the geth fleet and ground forces on Ilos. But I did it on the most advanced recon warship with the stealth technology that already proved itself against the geth sensors. The ship was piloted by the most experienced pilot in the Alliance and the ship's crew was one best. I led a ground team of specialists that, at that moment, were the people who had the most experience of fighting the geth. I had a quarian tech prodigy, who knew almost every weakness there was in the geth. My team had the most advanced weaponry, some of it specifically modified to fight the geth. As far as the preparations go, we were prepared like no one else."

Shepard finished her speech and turned to a window that oversaw the greeting area of the station. She looked at the secretary's desk, where the woman no younger than 25 years old was laying dead, killed with one shot in the head. Garrus was already moving to retrieve her.

"See that woman there Archer? Somehow I doubt that when she came to her work today, she knew how to deal with Geth incursion." Victoria gestured at the dead secretary's body that was already carried away by Garrus.

"People here knew the risks when they signed up..." Archer began.

"They knew, and they were not prepared! It was _your responsibility_ to make sure that they were!" Shepard roared, her patience quickly evaporating. She always believed that the commanding officers were responsible for the lives of their subordinates and that it was the commander's duty to ensure that their people were ready to face almost everything. It is better to suffer the reputation of a hard-ass, than to write condolence letters to the families of the fallen. "You wanted to make sure the no one had to mourn the loss of their close ones. How many have already died on this station alone?"

"More souls than will ever forgive me," Archer said and lowered his head. "But if my work could spare a million mothers from mourning a loss of a million sons, I had to try."

"The quarians once created the geth and used them to do their menial tasks. You know how that turned out," Shepard reminded him. Archer was about to reply but she raised her hand and silenced him. "Please Doctor, I'm sure you are an experienced scientist, but if you think you could do something an entire race could not, you are beyond naive. Anyway, this argument gets us nowhere. Tell me how I can shut down this thing before it does any more harm."

Archer explained about the bases' lockdown system. It seemed that in order to reach the Atlas station, where David was connected to the network, they needed to override the lockdowns in two other stations. Shepard asked the information on what the bases had in terms of defense and then signaled her team to meet her in the courtyard. Once they were all gathered near the Hammerheads, one of the hovercrafts was from the Normandy the other was sitting idly near Hermes station main gates, Shepard announced her next orders.

"Alright people, listen up. We need to end the lockdown on both Prometheus and Vulcan stations. They are smaller than Hermes and Atlas, and since we have two Hammerheads, I say we split up," Victoria said and turned to Miranda. "Lawson, you can fly this thing, take Taylor and Kasumi to Vulcan Station. Place is inaccessible by land so you are unlikely to meet any Geth platforms, only security mechs," Miranda and Jacob both nodded. As for Kasumi, she turned her head to look at Jacob and Shepard could have sworn she saw the thief grin under her hood. Victoria smiled inwardly: only two days on board the Normandy and Kasumi has already laid her eyes on the Armory Chief. Shepard then turned to Jacob and told him: "Taylor, make sure your grenade launcher is full of ammunition, in case you run into the Yummy mech."

Jacob smirked. "The Yummy mech, Commander?" There was chuckling from Kasumi and Garrus.

Shepard sucked air in and started to pronounce by letters. "Y-M-I-R. Seriously people, I'm not Scandinavian, it is hard to pronounce that name," Several more chuckles sounded, one of them was suspiciously similar to Miranda's voice. Victoria dismissed it and turned to the rest of the team.

"Zaeed, Garrus, Mordin. You and I are going to the Prometheus Station. It's located in the downed geth cruiser. The facility is most likely crawling with the geth that is why we're going to hit it hard and fast. Once we deal with both bases, we rendezvous near the Atlas station Main Entrance. Any questions?"

Garrus raised his talons a little uncertainly, and Victoria already knew what he was going to ask.

"Yes, Garrus, I'm going to drive." Shepard answered and smiled evilly. Garrus' mandibles twitched and then he sighed heavily.

The teams started to move to their respective Hammerheads. But before Miranda boarded her vehicle, Victoria shouted to her to walk aside so they could talk in private.

"Before we move out, I want to ask you something Miranda," Victoria asked. "About EDI."

Miranda's brows furrowed for a moment, and then she seemed to figure out the Commanders concern: "You want to know just how much we can trust her because of the recent revelations?"

"Correct. If Dr Archer is your main specialist on AI, then I seriously doubt we could entrust our lives to something he created…" Shepard began.

"I understand your concerns, but it was not Archer who made EDI," Miranda quickly started to explain. "It was another cell's main project that was headed by Professor Sayuki Marimoto. Dr Archer is an experienced scientist in AI development, but he is almost an amateur comparing to her."

"If she is so good, why she is not the head of this project?" Victoria asked, folding her hands.

"I don't know all the details, but there was a major conflict between Pr Marimoto and the Illusive Man. Something about the method of the AI's creation. The Illusive man wanted nothing more than a potent weapon shackled to be loyal to Cerberus." Miranda was explaining what she remembered from the reports. "Pr Marimoto didn't want to shackle EDI in any way. She said she could create the loyal AI not limited by programming restraints, but an individual that had its own, for the lack of a better word, moral restraints. Just like raising a child that is loyal to its family.

"That would have taken many years to achieve," Shepard noted skeptically.

"For a human child, yes. But AI works differently. They think at the speed of light, they don't tire and don't get bored with studying. Pr Marimoto created a rigorous regime that would have made an, well, 'adult' person of EDI in one, maybe two years," Miranda stopped for a moment, thinking of something. "That may also have been another reason why Marimoto doesn't work in this cell."

"What do you mean?" Victoria queried.

"Pr Marimoto is a very good and caring person," Miranda stated and seeing the skeptical look on Shepard's face started to explain. "I know, you think that such people don't work for Cerberus, but she is fascinated with the AI and because of the Citadel's laws, Cerberus was the only one interested in her works. She is also a firm believer that AI is not just collection of code but an individual that has a right for self-determination. And because the goal of this facility is to, plainly speaking, bind the Geth to our service, it goes against her beliefs."

"I see. Well, if that is the case I think we can only wait and see if she is as good as you say," Shepard said, then turned to her Hammerhead, "Alright Miranda, You know what to do. Contact me when you're done or if run into trouble."

Miranda nodded and headed to her own Hammerhead. In two minutes, the base's main gate was open and both hovercrafts left the courtyard. Shepard activated the comlink to another vehicle.

"Miranda, I'm reading one of smaller bases and emergency signal from a downed air car on your way to the Vulcan station. Check them out see if there are any survivors. We will check the other three in the valley."

"Shepard, our main objective here is the Atlas station and the VI." Miranda started to argue. "We can deal with the survivors after that."

"Miranda," Shepard's voice had just a slight edge to it.

Miranda sighed on the com and answered: "Yes Commander, we're on it." Miranda said and cut the line. As part of her work on the project Lazarus, she studied the Shepard's psychological profile extensively and knew that arguing with Victoria's decisions, especially if they concerned civilians or wounded, was pointless.

In the end, it proved to be pointless to look for the survivors. Those who were not killed outright by the stations automatic defenses, were either hunted down by Geth platforms or hiding somewhere in the valley. For those who were dead, Shepard could only put their bodies into nearby prefab buildings so that the local wildlife would not disturb them. Once she and her team dealt with the last base, they headed to the Prometheus station at full speed.

_Ten minutes later, approaching the Prometheus station…_

"Shepard, you remember that Tali said that geth ships are also built as platforms and that the geth upload inside them so they can make it work." Garrus asked Victoria from his gunner position. "Do you think that this 'David' can upload himself and control the ship?"

"I think so, but Tali said it also takes almost a thousand Geth to control the cruiser." Shepard replied. "With luck, David will be able to control only part of the ship's systems."

"_Alert, rapid change of altitude 100 meters ahead._" The Hammerhead's VI informed them suddenly. Shepard smiled and accelerated.

"Shepard, the cliff," Garrus said nervously, gripping the handrail in front of him.

"Relax, it's not the Mako." Victoria noted. Her smile grew wider.

"Spirits, here we go again," The turian muttered.

Shepard dropped the hovercraft from the cliff and engaged the thrusters at the last moment.

"_Alert, hostile VI is present in the geth's ship turret_" The Hammerhead informed them once they started to approach the ship.

"Fuck! I'm going to circle around it. Garrus, hit it with those missiles," Shepard shouted to the turian.

"I'm on it!" He replied and several seconds later she heard the 'whoosh' of the missile leaving the barrel.

Suddenly, Shepard felt the shockwave of a massive explosion. It seemed that David, not being a soldier, decided to attack them with the most powerful gun the ship had, which put him at the disadvantage against the fast moving Hammerhead. The turret could annihilate them in one shot but it lacked in turning speed and was unable to track the hovercraft efficiently. Victoria knew they had only several seconds to destroy the turret and any other possible weapons, before David tries to change tactics.

"Shepard, that turret is shielded by the ships kinetic barriers," Garrus reported after several shots. "We will not be able to harm it with our current weaponry."

"Then we need to get closer." Victoria said and took a sharp turn, aiming the vehicle close to the turret. She felt another shockwave, and pressed the accelerator to maximum, knowing that she had precious seconds to get in the turrets dead zone. Once again she was relieved that the kinetic barrier technology protected only from very fast moving objects but not from fast moving vehicles. They passed through the kinetic barrier's protective envelope and quickly stopped almost under the turret's barrel.

Before Garrus started to fire on the main turret, Shepard shouted to him: "Garrus, target the smaller GARDIAN turrets before David can use them." The turian started immediately setting up the new targets for homing missiles.

In several minutes, all of the GARDIAN turrets on the Geth ship Victoria and her team were facing were wiped out, along with the main gun. Before it went down, David lowered to a minimum and squeezed another shot. Probably trying to catch the Hammerhead in the explosion, but failing to do so. "_Huh, he must be still partially human to feel frustrated,"_ Shepard thought to herself.

They disembarked from the hovercraft and gathered before the entrance to the base.

"So, who is up for a nice stroll through the dark bowels of a geth cruiser?" Shepard asked her team. "Alright, Zaeed, you take point. Mordin and I in the center. Garrus you take the rear. Let's go."

They moved through the seemingly empty corridors of the ship encountering no resistance. At some point, Victoria ordered the dormant geth platforms to be destroyed or disabled in some way so that she would not have to deal with them later. They also quickly understood that David was herding them to some place he previously herded all of the scientists. Since they had no way of prying the doors David sealed open, Shepard decided to continue to walk into a trap. Whatever David used to deal with the Cerberus personnel, it will not work on Shepard and her team.

In the end, Shepard probably should have thanked David, because he led them directly to the lockdown override system. Then, to no one's great surprise, David started to activate the geth platforms and Victoria's team had to fight their way out of the ship. Because of the Shepard's orders to destroy the geth platforms, they encountered only moderate resistance with the exception of the Geth Prime in the entry hall. The Prime managed to put up a fight, but in the end the combination of Shepard's biotics and both Garrus' and Mordin's tech skills turned the Prime into scrap metal.

"Well, that was interesting," Garrus announced once they exited the base. "Who wants to go back for another round?"

Shepard grinned. "Maybe some other time. I'd like to see what other attractions this fairground has to offer."

Once the team was on board the Hammerhead, Victoria started to hail Miranda's team.

"Lawson, do you read? Come in Miranda." Shepard listened to static then finally Miranda responded.

"Yes Commander, go ahead," Miranda's voice was slightly distorted by static.

"We have finished with the Prometheus and are moving to the Atlas station. What is your status?" Shepard inquired.

"We are lifting the lock down right now," There was a clanking noise in the background similar the footsteps of a Loki mech. Miranda sounded annoyed.

"Strange, I thought the resistance in Vulcan station would be lighter," Shepard mused. "Did you run into trouble? Is everyone alright?"

"The team is ok, thank you and no, it was not the resistance that slowed us down," Miranda replied nonchalantly. "There were only several security mechs including one heavy. Nothing we couldn't handle."

There was once again a clunking noise in the background. Shepard heard the Miranda murmur 'Oh, bloody hell' over the comlink, followed by a gunshot and the sound of Loki mech exploding.

"Getting to the base however was a pain in the arse," Miranda continued as if nothing happened so Shepard decided to let it slide. "This whole place is a bloody death trap."

"Alright, we're waiting for you near the Atlas station entrance," Shepard told her as she passed under the waterfall and approached the main gate. "Hurry up and if we're lucky, we can end this soon and return to the Normandy just in time for supper."

"We're on our way," Miranda said and ended the communication.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Hive world Carmalia, Hive Secundus, Lower Hive, warehouse block near the tertiary waste dump tubes. <strong>

Gallardi waited for Sahi to give him an 'all clear' sign before proceeding any further. The team deployed several kilometers to the west from the estimated location of the cult's gatherings. The inquisitor stated that they should proceed on foot to quietly approach their objective. As to why they should do that was beyond Gallardi. They were trying to do what, ambush the eldar? Only Space Marines scouts or Raven Guard could manage that.

As a storm trooper he had good infiltration training. Zeck was also good at sneaking about, he would not be a good terrorist if he wasn't. Sahi was undeniably their best, her skills honed by the Death cult were probably good enough to rival those of the eldar. That was the reason they sent her to scout ahead. The inquisitor probably used his psychic abilities to make himself less detectable.

Still, Jocasta was good at many things but stealth was not among them. She was usually viewed as a physical manifestation of the Imperial Law by the average citizens, and thus didn't need to sneak. And Bruno… Well, his armor and weapons were clanking so loudly that even the Gallardi's old regiment's marching band couldn't do a better job of announcing the team's presence.

"What is taking her so long," Sarebas hissed behind Gallardi. Technically, he could ask her himself, but the inquisitor was not a military man and he put Gallardi in charge of ground operations. This was a dubious honor, because Sarebas quickly grew impatient with August's meticulous approach. And it greatly rankled Gallardi: one moment Sarebas is 'stick to the shadows, cloak and dagger' type, and in five minutes it is 'burn the alien, the mutant, the heretic" type. Gallardi asked Jocasta how she was dealing with such behavior and she just shrugged and told August that he will get used to it. In a year or so.

"She must have spotted something," Gallardi replied, trying his best to hide his annoyance at the inquisitor's recklessness. "Sahi would not hold us for anything trivial."

"The disturbances in the warp are growing stronger," Sarebas was clearly agitated. "We must expedite in order to…"

"We are being watched," Sahi's whisper sounded from the nearest alcove. Everyone pointed their weapons at her on the reflex, before their eyes recognized the assassin's outline in the darkness. Every one lowered their weapons and relaxed a little. Zeck spat on the ground and Bruno cursed loudly.

"Dammit Scary Girl, told you not to do that. Nearly soiled me drawers…" Bruno muttered, clearly spooked. There were very few things that could scare Bruno, yet Sahi managed to do it with ease.

"Watched? By whom and for how long?" Gallardi asked quickly. He cursed himself inwardly because he wasn't able to spot anything. If not for Sahi, they would have walked into an ambush and never knew about it. If they haven't already.

"I can't say who nor estimate their numbers," Sahi replied quietly. "All I can say is that they probably followed us for at least ten minutes, if not longer."

"Great, so much for scouting ahead," Sarebas straitened up and started to move down the road. "If they already know of our presence, we might as well advance openly."

"My lord, wait! Ugh, great 'the discretion himself'," Gallardi muttered and followed the inquisitor. "If we go like this, we should at least summon backup and wait for them!"

"Fine, call in the Arbites," Sarebas told him without turning. "Tell them to move in on the cult gathering place but we are not waiting for them."

Gallardi sighed but didn't complain. He quickly sent the pre-approved signal to the Arbites precinct fortress. The Arbites were good at rapid deployment so things might not look so grim for August and the team. He then motioned all the agents to fall in behind the inquisitor and proceed to their objective.

* * *

><p>The communication device chirruped slightly in Maeteris' ear, signaling that someone, most probably one of her rangers, was trying to contact her.<p>

"Speak," she responded quickly.

"Exalted Farseer, the other Mon-Keigh group is on the move again," The fast and quiet voice of ranger Entais informed her. "They are not attempting to hide their movements any longer."

"I see," Maeteris answered and sighed. The agents of the Imperium's so called 'Inquisition' have finally decided to confront her and her forces on this planet without knowing that the eldar were not the real threat. The Farseer knew that trying to reason with them was a waste of effort and, more importantly, time.

"Although they are not our enemies here, we cannot allow them to interfere with our mission. Too much is at stake," Maeteris stated.

"What are your orders?" Entais asked.

Maeteris sighed once again. Perhaps she was too compassionate for her own good but the needless loss of life did not sit well with her. She knew it was foolish. The other eldar commanders would not even blink an eye while ordering the Mon-Keigh execution.

"Farseer?" Entais queried once again. He was standing on the roof of a building that was overseeing the street the group of humans was walking on. The eldar chose to approach the Chaos cult gathering place using the rooftops, leaping over the streets using psychic assistance from the Farseer. Maeteris decided to take several leaps and approach Entais' position to take a look at the group of Mon-Keigh she was about to condemn.

There were six of them: the bald male in the hulking armor with psychic aura, who brazenly strode through the street, was undoubtedly the leader, most likely the inquisitor himself. The next one was a small female in skintight bodyglove, armed with the sword, her dark brown ponytail following her like a banner. She did a pretty decent job at staying out of sight. For Mon-Keigh that is.

The next two looked like soldiers. One, it was hard for Maeteris to tell whether it was a he or a she, wore a dark blue armor similar to some of the security patrols the Farseer's scouts saw on the higher levels of this city. The major distinction of this soldier was a ridiculous amount of grenades on his/her chest and waist. The other soldier was definitely a male, tall like an eldar but almost twice as broad. He wore a dark gray, almost black armor and dark blue uniform underneath it. He was armed with some sort of long gun (a lasrifle?) and also a saber was swaying lightly at his hip.

Before Maeteris moved her eyes to inspect the last two Mon-Keigh, something caught her eye. She looked more attentively one more time and…

The big male soldier had a number on his right shoulder guard: 511.

"_This could just be a coincidence,_" Maeteris thought to herself. "_Of course Maeteris, this is just a coincidence. Are you sure you are a Farseer?_"

Maeteris brows furrowed under her helmet and she turned to Ulathar who was standing nearby.

"Ulathar, we will ambush those Mon-Keigh, but do not harm them," she told the Exarch promptly. "Perhaps they will be willing to help us against the common foe."

"Farseer, we…" Ulathar once again began to protest.

"No time for argument, just do it!" Maeteris cut him off and moved to issue orders.

* * *

><p>"<em>You're walking into a trap, you're walking into a trap,<em>" Gallardi was constantly reminding himself. They almost reached the tertiary waste tubes, and haven't encountered any resistance. Right now Gallardi also had a gut feeling that they were being watched. Whether Sarebas knew it or not, he gave no indication, continuing to stride towards the main entrance of the tubes maintenance buildings. Sahi was doing her best to watch out for him, moving alongside and hugging every shadow. August and Jocasta moved behind the inquisitor using the urban warfare tactics they both knew since Schola. Zeck with his longlas sniper rifle was moving in the rearguard and Bruno was covering him with a shotgun.

Suddenly, August felt something shift in the air. The temperature suddenly dropped and the air was filled with the smell of ozone. Gallardi knew the sighs of a psychic sorcery and turned to shout a warning only to see both Sarebas and Sahi trapped in some sort of snaring spell. He then caught the movement in the corner of his eye, his left hand dropping instinctively to the guard of his power saber. He turned to see a xeno land beside him. It was wearing black and white armor with a huge plume of bright red hair coming from the back of its helmet.

The xeno lunged at him with its power sword, but Gallardi was able to get his own saber out of the scabbard and block the strike, holding the saber in the reverse grip. Then August used his right hand to move to his back the lasgun that was hanging in the sling. This move allowed him to fight with his saber without dropping his rifle. It took him several months to master the technique, but now he could use both rifle and saber without resorting to pistols like most of the Guard officers did.

The xeno made another swing, but now Gallardi took the saber in a two handed grip and managed to the incoming strike once again. The xeno's posture stiffened, probably because she was not expecting any resistance from a human. Yes, the xeno was most likely a 'she'. Either that or this particular eldar male had sizeable breasts. After fighting the dark eldar, Gallardi knew that morphologically the eldar were really close to humans.

August and the xeno woman started to trade blows when suddenly another xeno joined them, who, to all intents and purposes, looked exactly like the first one. While with one opponent, August could at least try the offensive movements, the two xenos quickly drove him in the complete defensive. They moved so fluently that it was almost impossible to follow their movements. Gallardi started to move completely instinct alone, blocking all of the xenos' strikes, waiting for an opening.

Something didn't feel right about how the xenos fought. August knew he was a competent swordsman. He would have died long ago if he wasn't. Yet he also that his current enemies were better than him and that they had several opportunities to land a successful blow, but they seemed to be holding back. "_Are they mocking me?_" Gallardi thought to himself. "_Or are they trying to tire me out and then capture me alive?_"

Gallardi heard a slight tapping sound behind him and after blocking another two strikes, he turned slightly only to see another xenos run to him, eager to strike him from behind. August awkwardly blocked the strike and then turned to his previous opponents, expecting another attack. But the attack didn't come. The how three xenos held their blades at ready and were slowly circling around him.

"Halt!" There came a powerful female voice with a mechanical edge to it, as if it was coming from a helmet's external vox speaker.

"Lower your weapons, Imperials, and you shall not be harmed," While the voice sounded alien the speaker was using flawless Low Gothic.

Gallardi looked around and saw that the team was, frankly speaking, at the xenos' mercy: both Zeck and Bruno had about a dozen weapons pointed at them. Sahi and the inquisitor were still trapped in the spell and Jocasta had two guns pointed at her with the tip of the power sword near her throat. Although Jocasta's expression was defiant as her hand was resting on the primed frag grenade.

August turned to the source of the voice and saw another xeno woman step out of the shadows. She wore a more elaborate armor with high helmet and some sort of wings, with a sleeveless tabard over the armor. Her hand was resting on the hilt of her sword. She was surrounded by a shimmering aura that gave her away as a psyker and it was probably she who held the inquisitor and the assassin captive. "_So much for taking care of the xenos psykers_," Gallardi thought darkly.

"Do whatever you want, xeno filth, it will avail you not," Sarebas hissed from his prison. "There is a whole army of loyal servants of the Emperor bearing down on our heels. An army that will crush you, and the traitors that worship your kind."

The xeno seemed to regard the inquisitor for a few seconds before replying. "Blind fool. You think the cult you're seeking worships the eldar? It is not. The powers they worship are far dangerous."

"What powers? Speak plainly!" Sarebas demanded.

"The Great Enemy," The alien woman answered ominously. "The fell powers of Chaos."

"And why should we believe you?" Gallardi asked, still facing his three opponents. "Your kind is a deceitful bunch."

The xeno woman turned her helmeted head to face him. "You would be smart not to trust my kind on many occasions but not this one. I offer only the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying to you."

"Why would the eldar concern themselves over a simple cult?" Sarebas asked, sounding incredulous.

"Because this is no mere cult. Your fallen kin decided to enact a ritual that will summon forth the entity from the warp that will consume this world and the thousand others," The alien answered, once again sounding ominous. "The only way to stop it is to banish it during summoning."

"What sort of entity?" Sarebas asked, his voice suddenly apprehensive.

"We know only one of its many names," The eldar told the inquisitor. "The Crossroads Keeper."

Gallardi could not see the Sarebas' expression, but he saw that the witch suddenly tilted her head to the right in a surprisingly human gesture indicating either curiosity or amusement.

"Ah! So you knew about this," The alien woman asked Sarebas.

"The inquisition knows of many things," The inquisitor replied.

"And you have done nothing?" The eldar crossed her arms. "Truly you are…"

Suddenly, the alien turned around and looked at the maintenance station building, as if she heard something.

"What was it?" Sarebas demanded.

The alien witch turned back to him and said: "Our time is short. I offer you this, Imperials: fight us now and you might take the lives of several eldar but you will forfeit your own lives and the lives of billions on this planet. Or fight with us against the mutual enemy and will save this world and all its inhabitants. Choose now, time is of the essence!"

Sarebas was silent for several seconds and replied: "I accept your offer but I'll be watching you, eldar."

The xeno waved her hand and the spell around Sahi and the inquisitor dissipating, releasing both.

"We should press on," The woman said and added something in her own language to her compatriots. The other xenos started to move towards the entrance of the maintenance station. Then the xeno witch approached Gallardi. While Gallardi was used to looking down on most people due to his height it seemed that the average eldar were taller than humans. Therefore the xeno's eyes, or more correctly her helmet eye slits were almost on the same level on the same level with August's eyes. She seemed to study him for a moment, tilting her head to the left to look at his right shoulder.

So, this is him. There can be no doubt about that. The fate of Maeteris was somehow tied to this brutish Mon-Keigh. Along with the number '511' he had some kind of symbol depicting a bird of prey. Maeteris narrowed her eyes, completely confused. What was so special about this particular Mon-Keigh? Sure, he was a competent swordsman, for a human. To be able to hold oneself against two warriors of the Howling Banshee Aspect for some time was no small feat. Still, there are probably millions of other Mon-Keigh like him, some were, most likely, even more powerful. What was it that set him apart? All this didn't make any sense to Maeteris.

"What is your name, Mon-Keigh?" She asked the human soldier. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another soldier, the one with the grenades, approach her. Maeteris could now see that this soldier was a female.

"And why should I tell you, xenos?" The man before her asked.

"_Why indeed."_ Maeteris thought. It's not like she asked him out of courtesy. She didn't intend to give him her name, that was certain. For a moment Maeteris felt rather stupid.

"Why does his name matter to you, witch?" The inquisitor asked behind her.

She turned to the inquisitor then back to the soldier and said: "I believe this man will play a greater role in the coming events," She replied simply.

"What kind of role?" The inquisitor asked sounding annoyed.

"I wish I knew," Maeteris replied and turned to leave.

"That was… cryptic," Jocasta murmured.

Gallardi just stayed silent. What sort of role this woman was talking about? He shook his head and turned to the inquisitor to ask him a question that he was itching to.

"My lord, what sort of entity the xeno was talking about?" The one you presumably heard of" He asked Sarebas.

"There was a recent prophesy made by the Imperial diviners using Imperial Tarot about the coming of a great daemon," Sarebas replied darkly. "The name 'Crossroads Keeper' was mentioned. We didn't know where or how, only that it will happen."

At the mentioning of a daemon murmur of unease sounded around the team. Jocasta made the sign of Aquila. Sahi started to mutter the protective litany. Zeck and Bruno who already approached the group, both cursed loudly. Gallardi stiffened but then remained calm. He had seen his share of horrors on Cadia.

"What interests me more is the witch's last comment about you, Gallardi," Sarebas was now looking intently at August. "Do you have something to say on that matter, Captain?"

"No, I do not," Gallardi replied. Then he suddenly felt a slight tugging at his mind and immediately recognized it as Sarebas' psychic probing. August didn't resist, he had nothing to hide.

The inquisitor when he found nothing. "Alright, push forward, we will sort this out later," Sarebas then turned and strode after the eldar. Sahi, Bruno and Zeck followed him.

"Great, once this is over I' going to be interrogated," Gallardi muttered to himself.

"No, he is not going to interrogate you. I think," Jocasta tried to reassure him.

"You think? Did you see how he gave me his best 'your secrets shall be mine!' look?" August asked her.

"Oh, I think he is just jealous that it was you who caught the xenos woman's attention, not him," Jocasta replied.

They both looked at each other and visibly shuddered as the same thought crossed their minds.

"I need to start killing heretics right now because my mind starts to wander into dark places," Jocasta said slightly smiling.

"Well, if the xeno spoke the truth, the Emperor already provided us with those," Gallardi smiled and turned to the maintenance station.

"Then let us waste not what the Emperor provides," Jocasta followed him, switching her shotgun's safety off.

When Gallardi entered the maintenance station, he saw several bodies on the ground. Those were probably the sentries posted by the cultists. August briefly stopped near one and slightly recoiled. The sentry was a mutant, its jaw was split and it had a little too many eyes. Its outfit was covered with symbols that made Gallardi's eyes hurt. It was obvious that the xenos haven't lied about Chaos worshiping cult.

The team along with the eldar moved through the station's corridors towards the central chamber. Over the sound of footsteps Gallardi started to hear the faint murmur somewhere in the distance. The murmur soon transformed into chanting. Gallardi could not make out any words and was glad that he didn't. Gallardi started praying silently, preparing himself for battle.

_Immortal Emperor, bestow on me Your righteous fury and strength._

_Let me become the storm that blasts the enemy from Your holy_ _sight._

_Show me the path to victory, that I might produce it I Your undying name._

_I swear to remain steadfast and true in my loyalty, and may the darkness claim my soul if I prove unworthy._

The chant grew in volume and briefly August wondered about the enemy numbers, because it took a lot of people to create that level of chanting. The corridors started to connect into one major walkway and soon both inquisitor's team and their temporary allies entered the main chamber.

"Emperor's blood!" Jocasta muttered beside Gallardi. He had to agree with her assessment. There were a lot of cultists in the chamber: some of them human and some were mutants of various sizes. Some were armed, others sported mutations like claws and pincers that will make them dangerous even if they couldn't carry any weapon. The cultists stood around the congregation in the center of the chamber. It consisted of nine heretics. Eight of them stood in the circle around the ninth and were dressed in some sort of robe. All of them had a strange aura of malice around them. "_Psykers,_" Gallardi thought to himself. Suddenly having another capable psyker on your side, even if she was a xenos, seemed like a blessing from the Emperor.

The person in the center was dressed as noble in a gaudy robe. He held his hands high in the air and was chanting something on top of his voice. This one was undoubtedly a cult leader. Suddenly the air started to fill with foul energies and the chanting seized. The man in the center started to scream incoherently and was clutching his head. The energies started to enter his body. There were a loud thunderclap and everything fell silent. The cultist started to fall on their knees and mutter something. It is that moment the man in the center started to change.

Gallardi heard the xenos scream something to her forces and they immediately opened fire on the cultists. The aliens armed with the swords dashed forward, letting out a war cry that froze August for a moment. He then saw the xeno witch turn to them before speaking.

"Swiftly, Imperials, we must destroy that thing before it completes the transformation!" She screamed to them and also dashed towards the bulk of the cultists.

The cultists started to rise from their knees and turn to their attackers. Dozens were already dead, shredded by the eldar weapons but many more were now rushing towards the line of intruders. Gallardi opened up with full automatic fire on the incoming hostiles, switching from hotshots to a lower setting because most of the cultists weren't armored. Jocasta was throwing grenades to their left and right flanks in order to dissuade the cultists from trying to surround the team. Zeck was hanging a little back, firing with his longlas on the bigger mutants. Bruno was slowly advancing forward, firing from his shotgun though he seemed to be interested in getting into a general melee where Sahi was already jumping right and left. Each of her strikes either killed a cultist or severed a limb.

Sarebas took out his plasma pistol and fired into the front row of cultists, instantly killing several. He then used his psychic abilities to knock out of his way another group of cultists. The inquisitor seemed to be fixed on the monstrosity in the center of the chamber. Gallardi knew he needed to follow Sarebas before he does something stupid and kills himself. August also saw the alien witch making her way towards the center, her movements lightning fast and impossibly graceful. She was slicing through the cultists as if they were made of paper.

"_A-A-AH! THE SERVANTS OF THE CORPSE EMPEROR! HAVE YOU COME TO WITNESS MY ARRIVAL? MAYBE YOU WISH TO PAY HOMAGE TO YOUR NEW MASTER?_" The low rumbling voice filled the chamber. It was the voice of the daemon who now resided in the cult leader's body. "_AND YOU HAVE BROUGHT ME PRESENTS! HOW DELICIOUS! IT WAS SOME TIME SINCE I LAST SAVORED THE SOUL OF THE OLDER RACE."_

"We have come to witness your downfall, fiend!" Sarebas shouted defiantly. "Go back to your foul realm, you cannot stand against the might of the Emperor!"

With that the inquisitor unleashed a powerful psychic blast on the daemon host. The creature staggered a little but then looked at Sarebas and grinned.

"_SO, THE MORTAL WISHES TO TEST HIM SELF. VERY WELL,_" The daemon host rumbled and launched his own psychic attack.

* * *

><p>Maeteris watched as the monster unleashed his powers on the human inquisitor. The cone of psychic fire quickly enveloped the Mon-Keigh and while he tried to raise his mental barriers and shield himself it all proved to be for nothing. The inquisitor screamed as he was set on fire. Then something exploded on him and his mangled corpse was thrown back.<p>

"_Foolish human,_" Maeteris thought as she dispatched another one of the lesser human psykers. Of the original eight only one remained the other seven were killed by either Farseer or a sniper fire from rangers or the Mon-Keigh sniper. The last one already moved past Maeteris to the main battle. The fight was going better than she expected. While several of the guardians and one of the banshees had fallen, with the assistance from the Mon-Keigh the eldar losses were fewer. Good. That meant the more will safely return to the Craftworld.

Maeteris turned to look at the daemon. With the fall of the human psyker it was up to Farseer to destroy this abomination. Maeteris concentrated her psychic powers and launched herself at the daemon. She knew that this was going to be her last battle and she prepared to meet her end honorably, but not before she sees this daemon banished.

* * *

><p>"Sarebas, No!" Gallardi was horrified when he saw the inquisitors burned husk land on the ground. The psychic fires must have cooked up the plasma gun's ammunition and the resulting explosion killed Sarebas and thrown him back. Gallardi didn't consider himself a friend of the inquisitor, but still, the man was a loyal servant of the Emperor, survived many battles only to be defeated so easily. August looked at the daemon's rapidly changing form. Briefly he wondered what they could do against such a powerful foe. But then he saw the eldar witch engage the daemon in personal combat, and she was coping pretty well, managing to push the monstrosity back to the end of the chamber and into the maintenance walkway between the main waste tubes.<p>

Gallardi turned to the onrushing swarm of mutants and opened fire once again. His hotshot lasgun made short work of his unprotected foes. August only switched to full power when he saw a particularly big mutant, because they had some sort of thick natural hide or scales. That was when he spotted something strange: usually the bigger mutants were killed by sniper shots from Zeck but now the sniper fire suddenly stopped. Gallardi turned around briefly only to see that the interrogator was gone. August checked once again on the ground, assuming that Zeck was probably killed by some stray shot. But there was no body. Zeck must have seen the inquisitor fall and decided that his service to the Ordos has come to an end. Anger started filling Gallardi. He hated being right about people.

Suddenly, August was thrown on his back. Something hit him and he could smell ozone in the air. He turned to the right only to see one of the psykers grinning evilly at him. The cultist raised his hand, psychic energies dancing around his fingertips, and prepared to launch another attack. The next moment a loud bang sounded nearby quickly followed by another and then another. The psyker's protective barrier started to shimmer and the cultist himself started to stagger backwards. Gallardi saw Jocasta determinately unloading her combat shotgun into the heretic. Suddenly the barrier died leaving the psyker exposed. Jocasta squeezed the trigger once again only to receive a loud click, meaning that her magazine was empty. The cultist's face turned to sneer because of his sudden deliverance, only to turn back to a horrified expression when Jocasta dropped her shotgun and took out a pistol. Jocasta fired once, the heavy caliber gun booming loudly, and the heretic's head cracked open like an egg. The almost headless corpse sagged to the ground.

Gallardi managed to get himself up, nodded to Jocasta, who nodded back and bent down to pick up her shotgun. August heard footsteps and screams behind him and turned to see another group of cultists running to them, two of them were firing wildly from their autoguns. Gallardi fired several bursts, killing both shooters and hitting in the leg one of the mutants with pincers.

The next moment Gallardi's blood turned to ice as he heard Jocasta cry out in pain behind him. He tuned to see that a mutant with a talon instead of hand had impaled Jocasta through the stomach. The mutant was snarling in the woman's face while Jocasta was looking back, her expression is a mix of pain and pure hatred. August saw that the enforcer took her shock baton from her hip. The next moment there was a sound of the baton powering up to lethal charge and then the mutant staggered back clutching at his groin. Jocasta hit him with an overhead swing and the mutant's head caved in, killing him instantly. Jocasta took two staggering steps back looked down at her wound and collapsed.

Gallardi started to run towards his fallen comrade, firing on any of the cultists who were running his way. He reached Jocasta, grabbed her collar and dragged her behind some piece of machinery. He took one grenade and thrown it over his cover killing some of the mutants and sending other into cover. He then bent down to inspect Jocasta. He didn't need to be a medic to know immediately that it was a mortal wound. He then saw that Jocasta was trying to grab his hand. He took her hand and squeezed it firmly. Jocasta smiled weakly and started to talk.

"I-I'm… alright… go…" Jocasta began as blood started to pour from her mouth. "The Emperor… p-pr…" Jocasta let out her final breath. Her only eye's eyelashes fluttered several times before the eye finally closed.

Gallardi closed his eyes for a moment. "Embrace the winds, Jocasta Angelidis, and let them carry you to the Golden Throne, where our master and father awaits for you in His infinite glory." August whispered the traditional Harakoni blessing to the fallen. He then took a glance over his cover to access the situation. He saw Sahi and Bruno fighting alongside with xenos in melee and slowly getting the upper hand. The xenos shooters were quickly picking up the remaining cultists. He then saw the eldar witch fighting with a daemon on the walkways in the distance. A group of several dozen mutants broke away from the main battle and was making its way towards the walkway, probably trying to assist their master.

Gallardi knew that their only chance of defeating the daemon rested with the eldar witch. He needed to make sure nothing hinders her. He quickly took the grenade belt from Jocasta. There will be time to mourn and honor the fallen later. Right now he had a job to do. He reloaded his lasgun and dashed in the direction of the walkways towards the group of mutants. Suddenly he caught sight of the inquisitor's plasma pistol on the ground. Somehow the weapon didn't explode along with the ammunition. August quickly picked it up and examined it on the run. The gun had at least four maybe five charged shots left in it. Gallardi quickly put it on his belt.

His long legs and better training allowed him to catch up with the group of mutants. He primed the grenade on the belt he took from Jocasta and threw with all his strength into the center of the group. August threw himself on the ground and covered his head. He saw the mutants' frantic cries and then a satisfactory sound of several explosions. Gallardi quickly picked himself up and reached the place of the blast. He used his lasgun to dispatch anyone who survived the explosion.

Gallardi then looked at the walkways and saw that the eldar was locked in some sort of struggle with the daemon. He knew he would not last long against the daemon of such power. Maybe if he provides a distraction, the witch will be able to finish the daemon off. Gallardi placed his lasgun on his back. As potent as the weapon was, even at maximum setting it would not do much against the daemon. August took the plasma pistol in the left hand and his saber in the right hand and started to run towards the dueling xenos and the daemon.

* * *

><p>Maeteris didn't want to admit it but she was slowly losing this battle. The daemon was becoming stronger by the minute while her strength, already strained earlier by the illusion spell, was slowly fading away. She was using her last reserves to just hold against the daemon's push. The daemon felt it too and was already mocking her.<p>

"_GIVE IN, LITTLE ELDAR. SURRENDER YOURSELF TO CHAOS. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT REWARDS AWAIT YOU: POWER, KNOWLEDGE, PLEASURE…"_

"I know exactly what awaits me, and that is why I shall never surrender," Maeteris hissed in response.

"_YOU'RE GROWING WEAK. YOU CAN NOT DEFEAT ME AND YOU KNOW IT,"_ The daemon started to laugh but then he suddenly roared in pain.

Maeteris felt the moment of weakness in the daemons defenses and struck with all her might, hurling the monstrosity down the walkways. She then saw the Mon-Keigh soldier standing nearby and pointing the pistol at the daemon's form, smoke still coming from the weapon's barrel. She then saw him holstering the pistol and taking his saber in a two handed grip. The Mon-Keigh gave her a determined look and nodded slightly. Maeteris nodded back, took her sword and prepared herself.

The daemon picked himself up and turned to look at his new enemy.

"_THE CORPSE EMPEROR'S SLAVE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE WITH XENOS. WHAT WOULD YOUR EMPEROR SAY TO THIS, MORTAL_?" The daemon's voice was strained. The Farseer's attack hurt him badly.

"He would say: shut up and die, daemon!" The soldier answered him angrily and charged.

Maeteris charged alongside him. The daemon once again unleashed his psychic fires, but Farseer redirected them using her own powers, protecting both herself and the human.

When they closed with the daemon, Maeteris somersaulted in the air and jumped over the daemon's head. She landed behind him slicing the daemon's back in the process and leaving a deep gouge. The daemon roared in pain and arched back. That left its belly exposed and the human used that opportunity to strike. His power saber sliced the belly of the monster and his guts started to spill out. The daemon roared once again and brought down his huge fists to crush the human, but the human managed to evade the strike. Maeteris started continued to strike the daemons back, supplementing her attacks with her psychic powers. The daemon was trying to get to either the eldar or a human, but when he almost reached for one, another would strike him from different direction.

Soon the daemon succumbed to his wounds and sagged to his knees. The human approached him with the raised saber, intent on finishing him off.

"_THIS IS NOT THE END MORTAL. YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME, I WILL MERELY GO BACK TO THE WARP. ONE DAY I WILL RETURN," _The daemon rumpled defiantly.

"That day someone like me will be waiting for you," The human replied evenly and took a swing with his saber, taking the creature's head off.

* * *

><p>The daemon's body started to cover in the net of cracks, purple light was shining through them. Gallardi took several careful steps back and saw that the eldar was doing the same. Next moment the body of a daemon exploded. The walkways underneath August started to collapse and he began to fall. He reached out to grab some purchase and was surprised when someone caught his arm. Gallardi was even more surprised to see that it was the eldar witch who was holding him her other hand gripped her sword that was lodged in the walkway. How someone as fragile as the eldar managed to hold him was a mystery to August, but it was not the time to be picky.<p>

He tried to reach up and grab the walkway when it collapsed and both Gallardi and the eldar plummeted down. Suddenly the air around him started to fill with the rifts that looked like the ones spaceships used for warp travel. Gallardi desperately tried to avoid them when he saw the large rift open up underneath him. August knew there was no avoiding it. He managed to close his eyes and commit his soul to the Emperor when entered the rift. His mind exploded to him in millions of colors and pain threatened to overwhelm him when he finally lost conscience.

* * *

><p><em>AN: The Yummy Mech joke belongs to author chapellefan and his/her FF __ME2:The Sequel that needed to be Parodied.__ Also I forgot to mention Liara's nickname 'Angel Eyes' belongs to author Elizabeth Carter and her FF __Rising from the Ashes__. I liked it so I used it. I hope I didn't offend anyone._


	3. Stuck

_Authors note: Once again, I want to thank everyone for reviews, favs and alerts. Knowing that you are interested in this story is inspiring._

_A-a-a-a-and, we are finally there! The crossover begins in this chapter. This one is a bit shorter than the previous, but it is more important. I know you have different expectations on how I deal with the first contact. I hope I will not disappoint you much in the way I handled things._

_Also, a big thank you goes to Colonel-Mustard1990 for his beta reading._

_Without further delay… wait one more thing._

_The DISCLAIMER steps on the stage. He is dressed in the tailcoat and has a card in his white-gloved hands._

"_Exalted Ladies and Gentlemen. Before the start of the show, I would like to make several announcements."_

_Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. In case of possible references to WH40k novels: those novels belong to Black Library and/or their respective authors. In case of possible references to WH40k Dawn of War series: the games belong to THQ._

_In case I missed anyone – your stuff belongs to you._

"_Thank you for your attention. Please enjoy the show." The DISCLAIMER leaves the scene._

_*The curtains rise*_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Stuck.<strong>

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Planet Aite, Atlas Station, VI main chamber.**

Shepard had seen many horrible things in her life. Batarians chipping human prisoners on Elysium. Civilians impaled on the Dragon teeth on Eden Prime and the monsters they were transformed into. Dr Saleon's experiments on his employees. Rabid Rachni on Noveria. Thorian creepers.

But when she looked upon the crucified David Archer all those things seemed to pale. This was not just terrible. It made her question the value of humanity. If a human being was willing to do something like this, to his own brother no less, then there was something entirely wrong with this universe.

For a moment Victoria questioned herself as to why she was fighting. Maybe the Reapers were right. Maybe she should just let them cleanse the Galaxy so that something like this would never happen again. She pushed those thoughts away. It was wrong to judge an entire race by the actions of one person. But then again, he was not alone. The techs and scientists of this facility didn't stop him. They helped him to create this abomination. And Shepard was sure the Illusive Man was the one to order it in the first place.

When Shepard and her team entered the Atlas station, they encountered little in terms of resistance, only three Geth platforms. David tried to stall them using different security measures. The last thing he did was hacking somehow through the Victoria's implants, putting her into some kind of virtual reality. Through the sheer force of will she managed to get a hold of her own body and navigate through the rest of the base alone, her team locked away from her.

Using the VR David was able to show her parts of his memories and finally reveal the truth about the Project Overlord. David didn't volunteer tor this. He was hooked up into Geth network by his brother because 'the Illusive Man demanded results'. Seeing this example of the Cerberus ruthlessness, Victoria once again started to feel tainted because of her association with them.

Shepard heard the doors to the chamber open and the sound of several people rushing in. The footsteps started to quiet down as her team caught the sight of the atrocity before them.

"Spirits…" Garrus muttered.

"My God," Came the whisper from Kasumi, quickly followed by the Jacobs 'The Fuck?' exclamation.

"Inhumane. Against even most basic ethics," Mordin said in disbelief.

"Well, this thing is now on top of my 'the most fucked up things I've seen' list," Zaeed grumbled.

Victoria turned to her team and then asked Mordin.

"Professor, can you…" She pointed at David. "Do something for him? Somehow get him out?"

The salarian blinked several times and then nodded, moving to David's prison.

"Yes. Yes. Will do everything I can," Mordin replied.

Shepard heard another set of footsteps. She turned to see Dr Archer rushing into the room.

"Commander, I'm begging you don't do anything rash," Archer shouted frantically.

"Rash? **Rash**? You think I can do something to him after what he has been through?" Victoria shouted back, anger boiling inside her.

"I-I know how this must look, but I never intended any harm to come to him," Archer implored. "You must believe me!"

"Did the Illusive Man authorize this?" Miranda hissed beside him.

Archer turned to her. "I had no choice! You know that the Illusive Man doesn't broker failure! The demands were incredible!"

"Do not tell me about the bloody demands!" Miranda shouted angrily, something out of character for normally self-controlled operative, very unusual, in fact, considering her otherwise somewhat ruthless nature. "I've brought a woman back from the dead! There is always a way! There is always a better solution!"

Miranda then turned to look at David once again.

"My God, Archer, he's your brother!" She muttered darkly.

"It's not like I planned this. It was an accident," Archer tried to justify himself.

"What, you mean he accidentally hooked himself up there? Bullshit," Jacob asked in cold rage.

"No, that's not…" Archer said. "I meant, seeing David communicate with the Geth… it all seemed harmless."

"Harmless?" Victoria asked. "Look at him, he'll never be the same again."

"The-the damage may not be permanent," Archer said feebly. "He might recover some semblance of his mind."

"Then Cerberus will never let him go," Shepard replied angrily. "He'll be a lab rat for the rest of his life if he stays here."

"But a well-cared for lab rat. At least he'd still be alive," Archer said.

Victoria finally snapped and grabbed Dr Archer by the collar.

"Well-cared for? Look at him," Shepard shouted in the Archer's face. "Is that what you call living?"

They all saw tears streaming down David's face.

"Square root of 906.01 equals…"

"30.1," Archer finished quietly. He closed his eyes and continued. "What I've done to David is unethical. If he dies, it is unforgivable. Let me take care of him. Please."

"No," Shepard replied sternly. "I've seen enough of your cruelty to know that he'll never be free from it here. I'm taking him away."

"No, leave him! He's too valuable!" Archer said. He drew a pistol and pointed it at Shepard, only to be clubbed in the face by Jacob's rifle.

"Don't try it, doc," Jacob warned him, jabbing his Vindicator at Archer's face.

Shepard crouched down to a fallen scientist. "You don't really care about David. He's only research material to you," Victoria said. She took out her Phalanx and jabbed it slightly into Archer's left eye. Archer flinched.

"You even think about coming after David, then as God is my witness, I'll find you," Shepard promised him. "And next time, I'll pull the damn trigger. Now leave, before I change my mind."

Roughly an hour later, they managed to unplug David, put him into the life supporting pod and transport him to Hermes station. The shuttle from the Normandy was sent to pick up David. Shepard told Joker to contact the Grissom Academy and arrange a meeting with their transport to transfer David.

Shepard turned to look at David's pod and was surprised to Miranda standing near, her expression thoughtful. Shepard slowly approached the pod.

"If you want to gloat Shepard, save it," Miranda spoke looking up at Victoria. "I know what was done here was wrong, but that doesn't mean the whole Cerberus is like this."

"I don't gloat, Miranda, give me some credit," Shepard replied and stayed silent for the moment before continuing. "I wanted to ask you one thing: Despite what Archer said, do you think the Illusive Man knew about this?"

Miranda sighed. "He'll probably deny it but yes, he most likely knew about everything. I told you already, he personally oversees all of the operations, demanding regular reports. If you try to hide something from him, he has agents within your staff that will report that."

"Yeah, and like you said: He's no saint," Shepard said.

Miranda chuckled. "I guess I begin to understand your distrust of Cerberus," Miranda added. "One thing is to read a report about this, and seeing it first hand is quite another."

"For your sake, Lawson, I just hope you'll never be forced to do something like this," Victoria told the operative.

Miranda looked at the sleeping David and muttered. "You and me both, Commander. You and me both."

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Orbit of planet Aite, Normandy SR-2.**

In the orbit, Joker sat in his usual place. He already received a positive answer from the Grissom academy, agreeing to send a transport to meet the Normandy in the Utopia system. Now he was sitting bored out of his mind, waiting for the shuttle to pick up this 'David' that Shepard had managed to salvage from the base.

Suddenly, EDI's avatar popped up.

"I have detected an anomaly on the Aite's surface, Mr. Moreau."

"Alright, what is it?" Joker replied. He still wasn't used to the AI's constant presence, but sometimes she indeed proved useful.

"There was an energy spike roughly two clicks south of Commander Shepard's position," EDI reported. "The energy signature is unlike anything I have ever encountered."

"You mean some unknown type of energy?" Joker asked.

"Not entirely correct," EDI replied "The event lasted for 1.03 seconds, and during that time the energy signature changed rapidly. Among detected types there were: dark energy, alpha, beta and gamma radiation, heat energy. Also radio waves of different frequencies and other."

"That's um, doesn't make any sense!" Joker told her, clearly puzzled.

"Exactly," EDI replied as if it made perfect sense to her. "By all current physical laws, such an event should never occur. This is why I brought it to your attention."

"It's probably just a sensor glitch," Joker stated. "Check the main array calibrations."

"The calibrations were performed 34 minutes ago by crewman Patel. No irregularities reported," EDI informed him.

"Well tell her to do it again. Jeez," Joker said, now clearly annoyed by the AI's persistence.

"Very well, Mr. Moreau. Logging you out," EDI replied and blinked out.

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Planet Aite, waterfall near Atlas station.**

Gallardi's conscience decided to return to him, and he felt like he was thrown into cool water. He instinctively opened his eyes and saw that he was indeed underwater. His storm trooper amphibious training kicked in and he reached for his rebreather, instead of trying to reach the surface. Many guardsmen drowned that way because of the weight of their equipment dragging them down. Then again, not all guardsmen were equipped with the rebreathers like storm troopers and grav-chute drop troopers were. Gallardi managed to get his rebreather on and then he exhaled to force the water out of the mask.

He looked around. The water was a little murky and there was also a sound of rushing, like he was close to the waterfall. Gallardi knew his weight was taking him to the bottom. He will have to lose some of his equipment in order to reach the surface. But before he started to take off parts of his armor, his feet touched something and Gallardi found himself already standing at the bottom. "_Probably not very deep here."_ The thought crossed August's mind. He started to look closer and saw that he could actually walk out of the water without losing his equipment.

Gallardi started to move cautiously. When he made several steps towards the bank, his eyes caught something flashing in the on the bottom. August carefully reached to check it and found out that it was, in fact, his saber. He must have dropped it sometime during his fall. Awkwardly picking up the weapon and putting back into the scabbard, Gallardi continued his ascent. When he finally broke the water's surface, August almost lost his footing, suddenly feeling the full weight of his armor. Pushing himself forward, he managed to finally get on the solid ground. Feeling exhaustion overcome him, Gallardi slowly sagged to his knees, allowing himself several moments of respite. It took almost all of his willpower not to rip the rebreather off, because he didn't know if the air was breathable.

Gallardi looked around. The first thing he knew that he was definitely not on Carmalia. Most of the Carmalia's surface was covered with Hive cities. Around him now were plains and mountains covered in greenery. August looked behind him and saw a waterfall and the pond underneath it. He noticed some weird animals with four legs and a set of hands peacefully wandering in the distance and in the sky a huge creature flying in the distance. If not for a big belly, the creature might have looked like a wind serpent from Harakon that his people hunted from time to time.

"_Where am I?" _Gallardi thought. Remembering that the last thing he saw was the Warp portal, and a terrible thought crossed his mind. Maybe this was all a trick, some sorcery playing with his mind. August quickly shut his eyes and started to recite litanies against the predations of the Warp. He prayed to the Emperor to grant him the true sight so that August could see through deception and lies. Several moments later, he opened his eyes, but nothing changed. He was still on some unknown planet and he was still wet.

Another thought crossed his mind. What is he died, and this is where the souls of loyal Imperial servants went. If this was the case, Gallardi was a little disappointed. He always was a firm believer that the souls of the fallen went to the Emperor's side and stayed there, until He calls them one last time for a final battle against the forces of Chaos.

Gallardi's thoughts about the afterlife were interrupted by the sound of a thunderclap behind him, followed by a loud splash. He quickly turned around and saw ripples on the water's surface, as if something had fallen into the lake. August reached for his lasgun and took aim. The lasgun was a sturdy weapon, and water would only slightly reduce its accuracy until Gallardi manages to clean the outer lenses dry. August saw something moving in the water, and soon he saw as the head broke the water's surface. He immediately recognized the helmet of the eldar witch he met earlier. The alien looked around and then started to swim to the shore. Somehow, she managed to do it while still wearing her armor. Gallardi figured that it must have been much lighter than it looked. The eldar made her way out of the water with arrogant gracefulness befitting her kind. Her soaked tabard didn't seem to bother her much. The alien once again looked around and stopped her gaze upon Gallardi.

"Well, I can clearly tell now that this is not an afterlife since you're here, xenos," August spat, and started slightly lowering his weapon.

The eldar didn't answer him. Instead, she looked down and grabbed her empty sword sheath. Then she turned to the lake, extended her hand and the moment later her sword flew out of the water and straight into her hand. Gallardi immediately brought his weapon up again.

"I have no intention of fighting you, Mon-Keigh," The eldar replied, putting her sword into the scabbard.

"Yeah, and just how many people have heard those words before you stabbed them in the back?" August asked sarcastically.

"None," The witch replied evenly.

"I'm supposed to believe that?" Gallardi quizzed incredulously.

"Believe what you will, I care not," The alien replied and turned to look at the sight before her.

* * *

><p>This planet reminded her of the last remaining gardens of Ulthwe. Maeteris looked at the beautiful landscape before her. While she traveled much in her life and seen many worlds, she could not recognize this one.<p>

"Do you know where we are?" The Mon-Keigh asked behind her. He was filthy and wet, probably because he too landed in the lake.

"This is not an illusion or a warp trick, if that is what you are worried about," Maeteris told him. "We are in the physical reality."

She felt the human's agitation slightly subside.

"If you say so. But where exactly in reality?" He asked her reluctantly. "I know that this isn't Carmalia. Have we somehow traveled to another world?"

"I will try to find out. Do not be alarmed," Maeteris told the human. Of course, being a Mon-Keigh he did exactly the opposite. She felt that his rifle was once again pointed at her head.

"I told you not to… Ugh, why do I even bother?" Maeteris grunted. She sat down on her knees and started taking slow, deep breaths.

The Farseer raised her mental barriers, made her presence invisible in the warp and carefully let her spirit soar into the sky. She was almost overwhelmed by the sense of stillness around her. Most of the time the warp was a boiling cauldron of storms, fast currents and malicious entities that inhabited it. Now the warp was like a serene lake in the mountains with only barely visible ripples from occasional wind. Maeteris reinforced her barriers, looking for some sort of deception, but found only emptiness. She briefly thought about the beasts from beyond, the ones called tyranids by the Mon-Keigh, and how they created the shadow in the warp. However, she did not feel the oppressive presence of the Hive Mind here.

Maeteris focused on her task and soared high into the sky. When she reached the planet's high orbit, she started to examine the star system. As a seer, she studied many star charts in Ulthwe's archives, and soon she recognized this system except for one thing. The planet she was on should not be there.

The Farseer decided to return to her body, not willing to attract any unnecessary attention. While flying back to the planet's surface, she noticed a curious spaceship in the orbit. It had a sleek design, a far cry from the graceful eldar ships, but much more elegant than any Mon-Keigh vessels Maeteris ever encountered. At first she thought a vessel of those upstart tau. The system she was currently in was not far from the so-called Tau Empire. But when she got closer, she saw the crude Mon-Keigh script on the ship's hull.

_NormandySR2_. The word didn't make any sense to Maeteris, so it was probably some important Mon-Keigh's name or the name of the planet. She noted that the ship didn't bear any of the Imperium's markings; maybe this was one of those Mon-Keigh rogue traders. If so, she could come up with some sort of deal to secure a passage to a world with the entrance to the Webway. Wasting no more time, Maeteris returned to her body.

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Orbit of planet Aite, Normandy SR-2.**

"You need to tell the commander, Joker," Patel said from her sensor station. "It was not a sensor glitch the first time and certainly not the second."

"Crewman Patel is correct. The sensors operate at full capacity with no irregularities. Commander should be informed of this anomaly," EDI supplied from her perch.

"Alright, alright I get it. Stop ganging up on me!" Joker replied, surrendering to their persistence. He reached for his holographic screen and opened the comm. channel.

"Normandy to shore party. Come in Commander," Joker began.

"Shepard here. What have you got for me Joker?" came the Commanders reply.

"Commander we've got some weird readings down on the surface," Joker reported.

"Let me guess: 'Like off the damn charts'?" Shepard asked lightly.

"Better," Joker told her. "Something that should not happen in theory happened twice not far from your current position." He quickly brought her up to speed about the anomalies.

"Hm, alright. We are almost done down here. I'll take the Hammerhead to check it out," Shepard told them. "The shuttle with David and the rest of the ground team will take off soon, get ready for pick up."

"Copy that. Be careful out there Commander." Joker acknowledged and ended the transmission.

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Planet Aite, waterfall near Atlas station.**

The eldar had been still for several minutes now, her head lowered and resting on her chest as if she was sleeping in sitting position. Gallardi entertained the idea of shooting the alien several times while she was still tied up with whatever ritual she was performing. She was a xenos and therefore an enemy. However, she also helped to stop a demon from consuming Carmalia. August knew that the eldar witch did it for her own arcane reasons, not to save billions of human lives. Also without her psychic protection, Gallardi would have been fried to death just like the late Sarebas was. So August thought that he should allow her to peacefully walk away, out of respect for her as a fellow soldier, seeing as he owed her that much. Besides, if she could tell him where they were, without lying in the process, it would help Gallardi immensely.

August had already taken off his rebreather, the small auspex on his right hand informing him that the air was breathable. While his uniform was still wet, the ambient temperature was comfortable. No longer feeling the need to hold the eldar at gunpoint, Gallardi found a good rock for sitting on and started to take off his boots. The water inside was squelching with every step he took. August needed to clear them. Not because his legs felt uncomfortable (they no longer could by definition), but because he didn't know if this planet was a hostile territory and squelching footsteps would give him away.

When he managed to put his boots back on, Gallardi heard a muffled gasp and saw that the eldar began to stir. Gallardi stood up and carefully approached her.

"Well?" He asked the woman, who also stood up.

"There's something strange," The alien replied.

"What do you mean 'strange'? Can you eldar speak plainly just for one moment?" August asked her, getting annoyed already.

"I can't speak more plainly!" The eldar retorted. "I recognized the star system, except that this planet should not be here! You tell me if that is not strange."

Despite speaking the same language, Gallardi's head started to hurt from trying to follow the eldar's speech pattern.

The alien ignored his confusion and continued: "The star system, as I remember it, should only have three planets and one a… oh."

"'And one' what?" August asked her, feeling that she realized something important.

"There should be an asteroid belt," The alien replied. "Why haven't I considered it in the first place?"

"Considered what?" Gallardi was once again growing impatient.

"During our travel through the warp rift, we have somehow crossed the flow of time," The eldar replied mysteriously.

"Which means?" August queried.

"We are in the past," the eldar stated. "This planet must have been destroyed somehow during the course of history and its remains formed the asteroid belt."

Gallardi was silent for a moment. The destruction of planets was not a novelty. Several were destroyed during the Gothic Wars. Spontaneous time travel also wasn't an unheard of.

Warp travel was not an exact science. There were thousands of confirmed cases when ships managed to arrive a year before their departure, or a hundred years too late.

"Just how far in the past are we talking about?" August asked the witch.

"I cannot say for certain," the eldar replied. "I don't know when or how the planet was…will be destroyed." She paused, as if thinking about something and then continued. "In your fleeting Mon-Keigh years it will be twenty, maybe thirty thousand years at least."

"At least?" Gallardi almost shouted. Twenty thousand years back. It was a time before the creation of the Imperium.

"Yes, I would have said much more, but…" The eldar kept talking as if it was a trivial matter.

"You lie!" Gallardi shouted at the eldar woman. "This is all some sort of trick to mess with my head, right?"

"You asked me a question, I gave you an answer. If you don't…" The alien crossed her arms and shouted back. "You know what, Mon-Keigh? Fine, don't believe me. The truth will be revealed to you, whether you like it or not."

"I'll discover the truth. Without your help," August snapped back. "This is it, xenos. We part ways here. Because of your help with that mess on Carmalia, I'll leave you in peace."

"Ha, you speak like you can do me any harm," The witch mocked him.

Gallardi glared at her, but continued. "Make no mistake, the next time we meet, we'll meet as enemies."

That is fine with me, I…" The eldar began but sharply turned her head left. "A vehicle approaches."

Before August managed to ask her to elaborate, he too picked up a small whining sound. The sound grew louder. It reminded him of the Astartes' Landspeeder with its anti-gravity engines. "_Could the Astartes have a presence on this planet?"_ Gallardi thought. His guesses were quickly dispelled when he finally saw the source of the sound.

It was an odd vehicle. The hovercraft was unlike anything used by the forces of the Imperium. It was also too angular to be something made by the eldar or even the tau. Gallardi briefly thought about taking cover, but by the way the craft was moving towards them August assumed they were already spotted. Therefore, it was better to stay mobile in case the vehicle's occupants prove to be hostile.

The hovercraft started to slow down and gradually stopped some hundred meters from both Gallardi and the eldar. A minute later the hatch on top of it opened and a humanoid figure clambered out and started slowly walking towards them. Another hatch opened and Gallardi immediately became alert, because the second person was definitely not human. The alien was barrel-chested and its legs were bent at a wrong angle. As the pair closed the distance, August could finally make out some details.

The leading figure was a human woman in black full-body armor with two yellow stripes running along the length of her torso. Her helmet revealed much of her face. She had a dark complexion like a native of Tallarn. The way she held herself told Gallardi that she was an experienced soldier. She also seemed completely unconcerned by the alien following her. It was a strange creature covered in scales with a split jaw, almost like some kind of tyranid. While to many people the alien might look as some sort of animal, Gallardi was not fooled. Its eyes were alert and betrayed its intelligence.

Gallardi was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. True, he read the Ordo Xenos' reports about human deserters serving alongside tau. Sarebas even mentioned that some of his more radical colleagues have xenos mercenaries in their retinue. However, seeing something like that with your own eyes was a disturbing thing, to say the least.

The woman stopped some ten meters from August and started to examine both him and the eldar.

* * *

><p>Shepard personally hoped that the two anomalies were indeed just a freaky sensor glitch. It was a long day and she really wanted to rest. But Victoria has long time ago accepted that the universe was not that simple. And as Shepard looked upon the two 'anomalies', she had to accept it would always find a way to surprise her.<p>

To say that two people she was looking at were odd would be an understatement. One was a very tall man, who was wearing a black armor on top of a navy blue uniform. While at first he could be considered a merc, who was not able to afford himself a full hardsuit, the way he held himself simply screamed military. He had an odd silver symbol on his helmet, a silver skull under a gate and wings on each side of the gate. On the left side of his chest a silver double headed eagle. He was carrying some sort of heavy weapon and (Victoria had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing it right) a saber was hanging near his left hip.

While the man was strange, his companion was just plain weird. She was wearing a set of ornate black and white armor with some sort of red gems and, more importantly, wings on her back. She was as tall as the man next to her, although more graceful and she wore a high helmet with red eye slits and some sort of rune depicting a crying eye. Victoria could not see any weapons except for a long sword.

Both of them looked like characters from some sci-fi vid. Since none of them were talking, Shepard decided to take a first step.

"Hello? I am Staff Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance. Can you please identify yourselves?" She asked the two in her most formal tone.

* * *

><p>When the woman spoke, she was not using Low Gothic, but Gallardi was surprised that he could actually understand her. While she had an accent, she spoke in Harkat – one of the Harakon's native dialects. The Low Gothic was a main language of the simple folk of the Imperium, there were myriads of planetary dialects only natives of those planets understood. The Harakoni regiments also used Harkat to relay orders when communications were compromised so that the enemy could not understand them and his time with them had left him fluent in the language.<p>

This woman, Shepard was her name, called herself 'Staff Commander' which was undoubtedly some sort of military rank. She also said that there was part of some kind of 'System Alliance' of which Gallardi have never heard of. August decided not to mention that he was currently an agent of the Inquisition and decided to answer according to a military protocol.

"I am Captain August Gallardi of the Imperium of Man's most vaunted Imperial Guard," He replied, using a formal greeting for occasions of meeting the non-Imperial humans that were not immediately branded heretics.

The woman looked suddenly puzzled and then replied: "I'm afraid I am not familiar with such organizations as the 'Imperium of Man' and 'Imperial Guard'."

"Nor I'm familiar with this 'Systems Alliance' you mentioned," Gallardi replied and his mood soured. The eldar was probably telling the truth. The woman before him seemed genuinely confused about the Imperium. And you need to live under a rock on the most backwater planet in the galaxy not to hear about the Imperium.

August turned to look at eldar only to see her reaching out with her hand. Before he managed to dodge her, the witch touched his head. His vision immediately blurred and Gallardi felt as if something was scratching his brain. As fast as it began the feeling ended and August' vision returned to normal. He immediately brought up his weapon and pointed it at the eldar's head.

"What in the Emperor's name was that? What have you done witch?" He shouted at the alien.

"You Mon-Keigh and your billions of languages. I needed to know what you were talking about, so I took the knowledge from you," The eldar replied bitterly.

The idea of xeno reading his mind repulsed Gallardi. Emperor alone knows what else the witch saw there. He was not privy to the most secret information, but still…

As if reading his expression, the eldar replied: "I haven't taken for your military secrets and even if I did, I think you already know they are a little out of date."

Shepard approached them slowly raising her hands as she began to speak.

"Listen, I don't know what just happened or what are you two talking about." The woman said in diplomatic voice. Gallardi knew he must have slipped back to Low Gothic while talking to the eldar. "But, I'm sure we can sort it out without violence."

Gallardi looked at eldar. "This is your last warning eldar. Cross the line again and psyker or not, I will end you. Do you understand?"

"As if I need another reason to touch your primitive mind," The eldar replied, crossing her arms.

"Stupid xenos witch," August murmured lowering his weapon.

"Filthy Mon-Keigh," He heard the eldar murmur back.

"Good. See? No need for shooting," Shepard told them, visibly more relaxed. "Now, I have come here to investigate two energy spikes that happened in this area not so long ago. Did you have something to do with those?"

"They might have something to do with the way we got here," Gallardi replied. They probably picked up the warp disturbances from his and the eldar's arrival. "Although, I'm still not sure where 'here' is."

"Planet Aite. Typhon system," Shepard informed him. Seeing his confusion, she added. "The Phoenix Massing?"

"Those names mean nothing to me," Gallardi told her and sighed. "Maybe if we had a map of the Galaxy or at least a Segmentum map, I could pinpoint our location."

Shepard looked thoughtful. She looked at both eldar and Gallardi and spoke. "I have a map on my ship. If you wish I can take you on board so you can orient yourself."

The alien behind Shepard started making some strange noises. August was confused for a moment and then it hit him that the alien was actually _speaking_. The language of course didn't make sense to Gallardi, but he was surprised when Shepard turned slightly and replied.

"Yes Garrus, I am sure that these two wouldn't cause any trouble," She replied and turned back to both bewildered Gallardi and the eldar. "You really wouldn't, right?"

"Unless you mean harm, human, I am sure we can get along," The eldar replied in flawless Harkat. Somehow, Gallardi was not surprised that she managed to learn the language in two minutes.

Shepard gave the eldar a dubious look. Then she blinked and shook her head slightly. The woman then turned to Gallardi, waiting for his response.

"Your help is appreciated, Staff Commander," August replied, nodding slightly.

"Please, just Commander will be fine," Shepard replied with a slight smile. "Allow me to make arrangements for a shuttle to pick you up."

**-o-O-o-**

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Orbit of planet Aite.**

Several minutes later Gallardi, Shepard and the eldar were flying in the small shuttle. It was smaller than the Valkyrie and had enough space for 12 people. The shuttle looked flimsy in August's opinion: several autocannon rounds would probably rip it to shreds, unless it was made purely out of adamantium, which Gallardi doubted. Several minutes later they flew into some small hangar and the shuttle finally stopped. Shepard was first to exit. Gallardi followed. He looked around the hangar. It was small compared to the shuttle bay of the 'Unwavering Watcher' or any other Imperial warship for that matter. It was filled with crates, and the hovercraft he saw earlier was resting on a cradle.

The alien, 'Garrus' as Commander Shepard called it was also here along with two humans. One was a dark skinned man in black and white armor, another was an older man with scars across his face. His dark red armor looked like it has seen better days. All three were carrying assorted weapons in their hands, but held them at ease. Once again, August saw that the two humans were giving _him_ a suspicious looks, but they were completely at ease with the xenos in their midst. This place felt more wrong by every passing minute.

Shepard turned and addressed Gallardi. "Sorry for the security measures, but this is a military warship so I hope you'll understand," Both Gallardi and the eldar nodded, and Commander gestured them to follow. "This way please. We will use the elevator to get to the combat deck where the Galaxy map is located."

They stepped into the elevator, the security detail following them. After several seconds the elevator's door opened revealing the Combat deck. A big holographic image of some kind of spaceship was above the elevation in the center of the main chamber. Several crewmen were working at their stations, all dressed in black and white fatigues. August was relieved to see that all of the crew so far was comprised of humans. The feeling was short lived however as Gallardi turned his head left and saw another alien, different from scaly one. This one looked as some sort of thin amphibian with huge eyes and horns. One of the horns was broken and the face of the alien had several scars so despite the fragile appearance, the alien might be able to stand up for itself.

Of other notable persons present was a redhead woman, who stood near the small stairs that led to the elevation. The woman was smiling warmly as if she was extremely happy to see the newcomers. The other person was also a woman, a brunette and an attractive one at that. She was wearing black and gold armor and had a hairstyle that would be more appropriate in the planetary governor's court than on the military warship. She was definitely suspicious of current guests, her hand resting on the butt of her pistol.

Shepard approached the small stairs, nodding her greeting to both women, and walked up on the elevation. The image of the ship quickly blinked out, only to be replaced by a very detailed map of the Galaxy. The Commander made several hand movements and the map focused on the part of the Galaxy. She turned back and gestured to the map for everyone to see.

"Those are our current coordinates," She told them, looking at Gallardi.

August took several steps to approach the map. He could not tell the name of the system but he was sure he was somewhere in the Ultima Segmentum not far from the Imperial border with the Tau Empire.

"Can you, um, zoom out?" Gallardi asked Shepard.

The woman reached out with her hand and the image returned to a full Galaxy view. August looked for Segmentum Solar and saw several systems that were painted blue and had a symbol of a planet under some kind of gate. He pointed at the symbol and asked. "Whose symbol is that?"

"That's the Systems Alliance official seal," Shepard replied dubiously.

Gallardi sighed. He turned to look at the Commander and asked: "Commander Shepard, I'm going to ask you a really weird question but I expect an honest answer. What year is it by human measurement?"

Shepard blinked several times but replied. "Um, it's year 2185."

Gallardi's blood ran cold. "2185? As in M3?" He asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, M3?" Shepard asked him, puzzled.

"Yes M3, third millennium?" August elaborated.

"Yeah, it is third millennium. Why?" The Commander confirmed. "Wait, you want to tell me you are not from this time? From what millennium are you?"

"M42." Gallardi replied, still shocked. He saw Shepard's eyes widen.

"M42? As in…?" Commander stopped, her surprise evident.

"Year 41 026 was the last time I checked the date," Gallardi replied, no longer looking at Shepard. "Year 2185. It is roughly twenty eight thousand years prior to the foundation of the Imperium of Man."

There was a general murmur around the room. The amphibious alien was tapping furiously at some sort of holographic device on its right hand. Some people looked surprised, others – skeptical. August ignored everything, suddenly feeling very tired. He walked to lean on the closest wall and sagged down.

"Forgive me if I sound skeptical but how is that possible," The brunette asked, her voice slightly accented.

"We went through some kind of warp rift and apparently took a wrong turn somewhere. You have to ask the eldar about the details," Gallardi told her.

"I'm sorry, what elder?" The woman asked.

"The _eldar_, ignorant Mon-Keigh, and that would be me," The witch replied instead of Gallardi. "I'm curious as to how come that you can't recognize the dominant race of the Galaxy?"

All eyes suddenly turned to look at the eldar. Shepard was first to speak: "I am sorry but I think I speak for everyone because we all assumed that you're human. In very ornate armor, true, but still. And I have never heard of the eldar," The murmur of agreements sounded around the room.

The temperature in the room dropped suddenly. The eldar's posture straightened and the air around her began to buzz.

"Are you… mocking me, Mon-Keigh? You traverse the stars and claim that you have never heard of my kin? Our Empire was created long before your kind fell out of a tree, and we shall rule the Galaxy for many millennia to come!" The witch's tone was one of quiet fury, a master speaking to an errant servant who dared toe the line.

Many of the humans took a step back, put off by the eldar's display. Only Shepard remained unfazed by it and crossed her arms. Gallardi had to give the woman credit; she must have seen much not to be scared by fancy tricks.

Gallardi stood up. "I hate to agree with the xenos, but she's right. Her kind should be the current rulers of the Galaxy," he told the Commander.

"I assure you it was not my intention to offend you. Maybe you can take off your helmet, if such a thing is possible, so we can determine what race you belong to and we can end this misunderstanding," The Commander stated flatly.

"I… you… very well," The alien stuttered but moved her hands to remove her helmet.

With the slight hiss the woman removed her helmet and August for the first time saw the face of the eldar. He had to give the alien her due: the woman could be considered very attractive if not for the sheer wrongness of her features. It was like looking at a mutant, only more disturbing: the mutant's was a misshapen and wrong, the eldar's face was almost arrogant in its perfection. She had a face tattoo the around her eyes: both eyes were framed in the same symbol she had on her helmet – the crying eye. It gave her face a slightly sad expression. The last major features were midnight black hair, which was slightly reflecting the light, and elongated ears.

"Hot damn," Gallardi heard the dark skinned soldier whisper.

"There is a race of space elves? This is amazing," the redheaded woman murmured beside August. He turned to look at both the soldier and the redhead, slightly puzzled. What was wrong with these people? One was actually checking the alien out. The other one stated that the existence of another alien race was an exciting prospect. He turned to look at Shepard and saw that the woman's expression was that of surprise and curiosity.

"Well? Do you recognize 'my race' now Mon-Keigh?" The eldar asked Shepard.

"Yes and no. You are an elf, right?" the Commander asked uncertainly.

"Maybe that is what you people have as a term for my kin, I don't know," The witch replied, her eyebrows furrowing. "And what do you mean 'yes and no'. Can any of you give me a plain answer?"

"Well there is this thing: my people have folklore, legends and fantasies about how the there was a mystical race of elves that could do magic, live for thousands years and other stuff," Shepard replied sounding slightly amused. "Most of the people of course considered this pure fiction, but seeing you here now…"

"I do not care for your fantasies, Mon-Keigh. I want to know of my people," The eldar had a firm edge to her voice, but there was a note of uncertainty in her words.

Shepard's amusement evaporated and she replied flatly. "No. I'm familiar with all major alien species in the Galaxy and I have never heard of the race called eldar," The woman raised her head and asked someone invisible. "EDI do you have any possible information on such a race?"

"I am afraid not, Commander. I have already made inquiries in Extranet and Cerberus databases," came the synthetic reply. "There are no references. There currently only two humanoid-like races in the know Galaxy: humans and asari."

"No! You're wrong!" The eldar shouted and rushed towards the Galaxy map. She waved her hands and zoomed on the map towards where the Eye of Terror should be. She found the system she was looking for, zoomed once again and shouted triumphantly. "There! This is a homeworld of the…"

The eldar voice ended abruptly as she looked upon the star system. Or lack of such in this case. The large sign was flashing under the image: "Warning: Stellar classification – neutron star. Navigation inadvisable."

"No… how can it be?" The eldar whispered. She made the search once again. And again. And again. The result was the same.

"This is where your world of origin is supposed to be?" Gallardi asked coming closer.

"Yes. It does not make sense," The alien replied quietly.

"Indeed it doesn't. We are in the past. Yet your kind does not exist here, but they exist in our time?" Gallardi asked.

"I have no answer. It should be…" The eldar began to speak but stopped abruptly. "The Crossroads Keeper."

"The daemon? What about it?" August queried.

"He is one of the most dangerous entities in the warp because he has the knowledge of the connection between material and ethereal dimensions. And apparently other material dimensions as well," The eldar told him.

"You'll have to elaborate a little," Gallardi told her. "You know I'm stupid human and all that."

He expected some arrogant remark from the xenos, but it would appear that the eldar was too distracted to bother, because she began patiently explaining.

"There are theories that our material realm is not the only one. That there are actually many other such realms. Some simply mirrors each other. Another might have differences," the witch spoke sadly. She gestured towards the image of a neutron star. "This might be one of such differences."

"How does the daemon factor into all this?" August asked her.

"This might be its parting gift before we banished it," the eldar replied, lowering her head. "It sent us not only in the past but also into another dimension."

"Dimension where humans coexist with xenos…" Gallardi muttered.

"And the Eldar where destroyed by some natural disaster before their ascendance," The alien finished, and then added. "Or worse: my kin might have never existed in the first place. Ha, the Harlequins would have loved the irony of it."

Although the eldar's theory was wild, it was still plausible. And it seems that she was not lying this time, for she indeed had nothing to gain from it. No one could say how the events in this Universe would turn out. The humanity might not prove to be strong enough to oppose the horrors of the Galaxy and vanish from existence in the next millennia. The Imperium will never be created. Even the…

August stopped himself before he finished that thought. That way lay damnation. The Emperor was eternal. Even if this dimension was not blessed with His existence, He was still back there, back home on Holy Terra. He still sat upon the Golden Throne. And Gallardi would always remain loyal and will carry His light in his heart.

"I don't suppose you know a way back?" August asked the eldar.

The witch turned to him and replied. "The only way would be probably looking for the Crossroads Keeper and making a deal with it. We both know that is not an option."

"So we're stuck here," Gallardi summarized.

The eldar snorted. "A crude expression, but an appropriate one. We are, as you put it, 'stuck'," She told August and wandered to the side and began staring at the wall.

Gallardi nodded and turned to look at Commander Shepard.

"Alright, I'll say that this was the most bizarre conversation I have ever heard," Shepard told him and Gallardi understood that his dialog with the eldar was made in Harkat and every one present heard it. Shepard continued. "I understand that you are far away from home with no means to get back. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Gallardi smiled slightly. "Your sentiments are welcome, Commander."

"So. What are you planning to do?" Shepard asked him.

Gallardi looked at the Galaxy map. Indeed, what should he do? He always followed orders and now he had none. He didn't have any idea what to do. The Imperial Guard doctrine stated: If in doubt – move forward. If you do not have any orders, continue with the main mission of the Guard. He looked at Shepard.

"My duty as Imperial Guardsman compels me to protect humanity's domains against the predations of the alien, the mutant and the heretic. Since there is no Imperial Cult that means there are no heretics. The Age of Strife hasn't begun – there are very few mutants." August stated, noticing a slight wince the Commander made at the mentioning of mutants. "That leaves the aliens. Tell me: are there any ongoing military conflicts between humanity and xenos?

* * *

><p>Victoria quietly regarded the Captain. Hearing how he and the eldar got here was something suited for a patient of the asylum. Yet the way they spoke about it… All this talk about daemons and dimensional travel – they made it sound so real, as if they were discussing the latest news. Some part of Shepard's mind still rebelled against the insanity of it. However, she was resurrected not so long ago, and now she had an <em>elf<em> on board. How much weirder things can become?

Victoria decided not to give the Universe ideas. She returned her attention to the man before her and his question.

"Why do you want to know about such thing?" Shepard asked Gallardi.

Gallardi was silent for a moment. "If there is such a conflict, I'll try to offer my services as a… mercenary," The last word was spoken with venom. It seemed that the Imperial Guard had a very low opinion of mercs.

"It seems that the idea of being the mercenary doesn't bring you much joy," Victoria remarked.

"It doesn't," Gallardi replied flatly. "But I see no alternative."

"Why not enlist officially in the Alliance Military. They are always looking for good soldiers," Shepard offered. "I know a few people who can help."

The captain shook his head. "Enlisting will require swearing an oath of loyalty. My loyalty will always lie with the Emperor and Imperial Guard."

Victoria decided not to push the subject. She knew a conviction when she saw one. This man fought under the banners of his state for some time and will gladly die in its name, even if it no longer existed.

"So, back to my original question," Gallardi queried once again.

Shepard regarded him once again. He seemed like a capable warrior. Someone she could use in her mission. Victoria decided to try her luck.

"As a matter of fact, there is. Human colonies are being abducted by an alien race called the Collectors. Hundreds of thousands are already lost. My team and I are going to stop them. I can really use someone experienced and determined," Shepard told him.

Gallardi's head suddenly snapped in the direction of the eldar and the alien looked back. Both their expressions were those of confusion. Gallardi turned to Victoria and asked.

"These Collectors, do you have an image of them?"

Shepard brought up her omnitool and searched for Collectors images from Freedom's Progress. She showed them to Gallardi, who began to study the Collectors intently. She once again turned to look at the eldar, but she just shrugged and turned to stare at the wall once again.

"What? Do you know something about them?" Victoria asked hopefully. Any information on the Collectors would prove invaluable.

"No. I have never met such creatures," The captain stated, shaking his head. "They just reminded me of something similar we had."

Before Shepard asked him to elaborate, Gallardi raised his hand. "It's not relevant at the moment Commander. Tell me: if they already abducted so many, why was only one small ship was sent to stop them? I'm not questioning your competence, but surely a fleet would fare better?"

"The problem is that those colonies weren't part of the Systems Alliance. They're independent," Victoria explained. "The Alliance command and the politicians decided that it was easier to write off those attacks as the work of pirates and slavers. I act as an independent agent."

"You're an Alliance officer but you act independently?" Gallardi asked her, his expression puzzled.

"Yes, besides being an Alliance officer, I'm also a Council Spectre," Victoria told him and sensing his next question, continued. "The Spectres are agents of the Citadel Council which is the governing body that consists of some of the major species in the Galaxy, including humanity. As a Spectre, I can act outside of the Citadel and the Alliance laws and regulations to ensure peace in the Galaxy."

"I see," The captain replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Back to the Collectors. Do you know why they are abducting our people?"

"_Here comes the worst part_," Shepard thought. "At this moment we can only speculate, but we think they are somehow connected to another hostile alien race – the Reapers."

"And the Reapers are?" Gallardi asked curiously.

"They are the race of ancient sentient star ships that have been systematically destroying all sentient life in the Galaxy every fifty thousand years. The next cycle of destruction should have begun two years ago but we managed to postpone it for a while," Shepard told him and stiffened, waiting for his reply.

To her surprise, Gallardi have not started to ridicule her as most people would. Instead, his head turned once again to look at the eldar, who immediately turned back, her expression worried. The eldar stepped closer and began to speak.

"Do you have the image of these Reapers, Mon-Keigh?"

Shepard searched through her omni-tool once again and revealed the image of the Sovereign.

"There was only one Reaper, Sovereign," Victoria explained. "He was a vanguard of their fleet and wanted to use the Citadel station as a giant mass relay to bring the fleet of Reapers from the dark space."

Both Gallardi and the eldar were studying the image intently. The alien woman was first to speak.

"This is unlike any necron ship I have ever seen or encountered in the archives of the Craftworld," The eldar was shaking her head.

Gallardi looked up at Shepard. "What about foot soldiers? Did they use those?"

Victoria started to rummage once again through her omni-tool for pictures of the geth and the husks.

"These were the most commonly seen troopers," Shepard told them as she cycled through the series of pictures.

The eldar shook her head once again, visibly relaxing. "No, these are not necron."

The captain looked at her. "Are you sure, xenos? You said this is the past. The design might have evolved in time."

"Don't be foolish," The eldar replied, once again staring at the wall. "The necron designs have not changed for millions of years."

"Hm, whatever you say," The Captain shrugged.

"I'm sorry but who are the necron?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Back in our Universe we also had a race of xenos machines hell-bent on the destruction of sentient life," Gallardi told her. "But it seems your Reapers are not them, which is good. There are few things worse than the necron."

Victoria nodded and shut down her omni-tool.

"So. Now you know about my mission. It's a risky business. The chances of survival are… slim," Shepard told Gallardi. "What say you, Captain?"

Gallardi straightened out and answered. "It seems to me that your cause is just, Commander. I would be honored to offer my services."

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be," Victoria smiled.

"I'm sorry Commander, I don't follow you," Gallardi asked her.

"I'm sorry, it's just the majority of people think I'm crazy to believe in the Reapers," Shepard explained. "But it seems you already had your own version of mass murdering machines. I guess nothing fazes you."

Gallardi looked at Garrus and Mordin. "Serving alongside aliens rankles me very much, Commander."

Shepard stiffened. "Is this going to be a problem? I understand that you might do things differently in the Imperium of Man, but I cannot have the integrity of my team compromised."

The Captain sighed. "In the Imperial Guard we are compelled to shoot xenos on sight, unless ordered otherwise. However, I understand that following that doctrine here will do more harm than good for my fellow humans. I guess… some semblance of non-violent coexistence should be possible," He finished reluctantly. "I don't have to like it, but if this is the way to serve Mankind, I will do my duty."

"I'm glad to hear that," Victoria said and extended her hand. "Welcome aboard, Captain Gallardi."

The man took her hand in the strong grip and shook it. "Proud to be of service, Staff Commander Shepard."

Victoria smiled slightly, released his hand and turned to address her second guest.

"What about you Miss… I am sorry, we were not introduced properly," Shepard asked the alien woman, who was still starring at the wall.

The eldar was silent for a moment.

"Maeteris," She spoke quietly. "I am Farseer Maeteris of the… once of the Craftworld Ulthwe."

The Farseer turned and looked into Victoria's eyes.

"It seems to me, human, that I have nowhere to go at the moment. I would like to have some time alone to reflect on the recent events," Maeteris stopped, as if weighing her words carefully. "If you can provide me with a sanctuary on your vessel I would be… grateful."

"_Yes, she is definitely an elf_," Victoria thought. Because seriously, who uses the word sanctuary nowadays. She turned to look at Gallardi for some tip, but he only shrugged slightly. Shepard turned back to the Farseer.

"Of course. We would be honored to have you as our guest," Victoria told the eldar, receiving a slight nod from the woman.

"Come, I will show you to your quarters," Shepard told both Gallardi and Maeteris and turned to address the rest of her crew.

"Alright people. We have a debriefing in forty minutes. Until then, dismissed."

* * *

><p><em>AN. I know. The way I dealt with the language barrier looks somewhat dumb, but didn't want to make it a major issue. __So, there you have it._


	4. Guns, wounds and diplomacy

_Authors Note: I apologize for the absence of action in this chapter. There will be action in the next one, I promise._

_Once again, a big thank you for all those reviews and favs._

_I'll put a simple DISCLAIMER this time:_

_Mass Effect belongs to BioWare. Warhammer 40k belongs to Game Workshop. In case of possible references to WH40k novels: those novels belong to Black Library and/or their respective authors. In case of possible references to WH40k Dawn of War series: the games belong to THQ._

_Update: I have changed the ratlings back to squats. This happened due to misunderstanding with my beta-reader. I know squats are not currently part of canon, but they were once, so I decided to include them.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Guns, wounds and diplomacy.<strong>

**Location: Phoenix Massing, Typhon System, Normandy SR-2**

Shepard led both August and Maeteris to the crew deck, showing them the personal cabins. It was hard to tell if it was just a coincidence, but the cabins were divided into 'alien' and 'human' sections. Victoria pointed at the vacant ones and told them to choose any. Maeteris immediately moved to the 'alien' side, deliberately choosing the most distant cabin from the occupied ones. She stopped for a moment in front of the door and then touched the holographic lock, revealing the cabin behind it. Shepard followed the Farseer to the door.

"It's modest, but people say it's way better than the sleeper pods," Shepard explained, her tone slightly apologetic.

"It is sufficient," Maeteris replied plainly. She paused, as if the next words were hard for her to pronounce. "Thank you."

With that, the eldar entered the cabin and closed the door. Shepard turned to Gallardi who stood behind her.

"Are all eldar like this?" She asked August.

"I wouldn't be an expert on such things," he replied, slightly shrugging. "Usually we're too busy shooting each other to talk."

"Yet I found you two standing together," Victoria continued. "True, you weren't exactly friendly towards each other, but still."

"She helped to save many lives and defeat a powerful foe recently. Regardless of her reasons for doing it, I was content to let her leave peacefully," Gallardi said and turned to choose himself a cabin on the 'human' side.

He chose the next in the row after two occupied ones. August moved to open the door and stood still, perplexed by the holographic lock.

"I take it you don't have locks like these in the Imperium," Shepard approached him from behind.

"No, we have nothing of the kind," Gallardi replied, studying the orange display.

"Strange, I would have thought that so far in the future we would be more advanced than we are now," Victoria queried, and August heard a slight tone of suspicion in her voice.

"True. And we probably were at some time," Gallardi explained, turning to face the Commander. "The Tech Priesthood of Mars claims that many things were lost during the Age of Strife. One person even told me they had to reinvent flight at some time."

Shepard's eyes widened. "Wow, that bad?" She moved to show the Captain how to work the lock. "I'd really like to know what happened during this 'Age of Strife', but first I really want to get out of the armor and take a shower."

August repeated Victoria's actions to memorize how to open and lock the door and nodded to Shepard. "Likewise Commander."

"Also about the armor. I want you to go to the armory and ask Jacob Taylor, our Armory Officer, to give you a hardsuit," Victoria told him. "Some of our operations will take place in space or on planets with environmental hazards. Do you have zero gravity training in the Guard?"

"Most of the guardsmen don't, but I'm a storm trooper," Gallardi replied. "Our training is more rigorous."

"Excellent. Also you probably should look for a new weapon," Shepard pointed at his rifle. "I doubt we have ammunition for yours."

August smiled. "As long as you have electricity, I'll be fine."

That picked Shepard's interest almost instantly. "Wait, are you saying that this is an energy weapon like a... laser or blaster or what?"

"Judging by your reaction the las weapons are not a common sight. Yes, this is indeed a laser weapon," Gallardi informed her.

Shepard's mind started to buzz from this information. This was a handheld laser weapon. The impact such technology alone would have on the galaxy would be enormous. The long used kinetic barriers, the main protection against state of the art weaponry, could become obsolete. In addition, the biotic's talent of creating a powerful biotic barrier would mean nothing against such a weapon.

"I withdraw my remark about your technological level," Victoria told him, looking at the lasrifle with slight envy. "Can I somehow convince you to share this technology?"

Gallardi looked at her, slightly confused. "Why do you need to convince me? This technology does not belong to me, it belongs to all Humankind."

_"But not the aliens",_ Shepard thought to herself, realizing that while Gallardi was probably a man of honor and dedication, he was also raised in a deeply xenophobic society. He would share this technology but only for humans to benefit from it. Convincing him that all the races need such advancement for them to stop the Reapers would be almost impossible.

"Commander?" August asked, bringing Victoria out of her reverie.

"Sorry, I must really need to have that shower," she told the Captain. "About the technology: I thought that you would not wish to share it with us since we aren't the Imperium of Man. Our ideals might be very different from yours."

"I'm just a guardsman. It's not my place to know what's best for Humanity," Gallardi said and shrugged. "If the System Alliance is interested in such technology, they will have it."

"I'm glad to hear it. If you can, please join us in the debriefing room. We might have something to discuss. Ask Taylor if you need directions," Victoria nodded to him and headed for her quarters. She abruptly stopped and turned to ask Gallardi.

"One more question: Your rank, Captain, is it a Navy or an Army rank?"

"If by Army you mean ground-based forces like the most of the Imperial Guard, then yes it's an Army rank," August told her. "Why?"

"Oh, then it makes us roughly equal in rank," Shepard smiled slightly. "I know we're not in the same command structure, but I'd hate the feeling of commanding someone who is supposed to be my superior."

Gallardi nodded. "I'll meet you at the debriefing, Commander."

* * *

><p>August entered his cabin. It was neat and comfortable place, smaller tham his quarters aboard the 'Unwavering Watcher' but not cramped. It had a bunk, a deck with a chair hidden in the floor and a couple of lockers for personal possessions and armor. Gallardi had traveled in worse conditions.<p>

Taking off his helmet and placing his rifle on the desk, August sat down on the bunk and finally relaxed slightly. His head right now was filled with doubts. Almost a year in the service of the Ordos taught him not to take things at their face value, that the service to the Emperor was not only about black and white, pure and heretical. Sometimes you walked in the shades of gray, dealt with things in a way some more zealous people would consider heretical. Like working with xenos. The important thing was that you never crossed that invisible line, beyond which lay damnation.

Nevertheless, all those things could not possibly prepare Gallardi for something like his current predicament. He was on the ship that was willingly shared with aliens. It seemed to him that if he attacked those xenos as he should, being a 'Proper-Bloody-Guardsman' most of his life, the humans on this ship will raise up to defend their alien comrades. While August knew he was not PDF rookie, he would probably take some of the aliens and the humans down before others will eventually overwhelm him. And that was troubling him. Not his death, he was always ready to lay down his life in the name of the Emperor, but what bothered him was that here in this strange and confusing world he was suddenly something bigger than just a soldier, a gear in the great machine that was Imperium of Man. He was a sole representative of a great nation. A nation that united a million worlds and existed for more than a ten millennia. If Gallardi decides to go on a righteous crusade against all aliens, he would fall eventually and then because of him these people will remember the Imperium just as a bitter place that hated non-humans.

The Imperium's hatred for xenos was justified by the suffering of the millions of souls that were vanquished by alien races, but the humans here didn't know that. They also didn't know about other things that were good about the Imperium. While it was true that the life in the Imperium was filled with war and sorrow, it was also a nation of dutiful and industrious people that struggled and persevered despite overwhelming odds. And right this moment it was a lone storm trooper who could recite the tale of the Imperium and its people to those, who never heard about the heroism and tremendous sacrifices that were required to ensure humanity's survival. Maybe they would learn something from it.

August sighed. All those thoughts only confused him further. For a moment, he wished nothing more than to be back on the front lines, where everything was simple: the enemy was before you and all you needed to do was giving the right orders and then point and shoot. Nevertheless, he knew that the Emperor did not make the Mankind strong by providing them with simple, easily overcome challenges. And while his current predicament was probably the toughest he had ever faced, he could start with some simple things and then see where the winds would take him, as the Harakoni proverb said.

One of the simple things was getting into the armory and attending to his gear. Gallardi stood up, picked up his lasgun and put on his helmet. He left his cabin, locked the door and stopped, realizing that he didn't know where the armory was. However, before he moved to a closest crewmember for assistance a synthetic voice he heard before sounded from above.

"If you are looking for directions Captain, I would be happy to assist."

"Um, yes I want to get to the ship's armory," Gallardi said, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Use the elevator to get to the Combat Deck, then turn left to reach the Armory's door." The voice supplied helpfully.

"Um, thank you," August inclined his head. "I'm sorry but who are you?"

"I am the ship's Artificial Intelligence," The voice replied. "The crew refers to me as EDI."

Gallardi narrowed his eyes. It was not always a common knowledge but according to Magos Wasserman the Martian priesthood prohibited AI usage after the war with the Iron Men during the Dark Age of Technology.

"Is it common for Mankind to use Artificial Intelligences?" He asked EDI.

"No, current Citadel laws prohibit both development and usage of Artificial Intelligence in any form after the Geth Uprising," EDI replied. "I was created in secret to assist the ship's maintenance and to protect the Normandy against cyberwarfare attacks."

"I'm sorry, what is the Normandy?" Gallardi queried.

"Normandy is the name of this ship. She was named after the region on Earth where a significant battle took place during World War II," EDI explained.

"I see. Thank you," Gallardi replied and started to move towards the elevator.

"Logging you out, Captain." EDI told him and went silent.

August shook his head in confusion. He didn't know what to think about the AI. She, or it or whatever, mentioned something about 'cyberwarfare' attacks. Gallardi didn't know what those were, only that they have probably been dangerous enough to warrant the creation of AI. Gallardi decided to speak later with the Commander about it, and warn her about the Iron Men and how they almost destroyed the Humanity.

He entered the elevator, found the small holographic console and pressed the key labeled 'Combat Deck'. In a minute, the elevator's door opened revealing the familiar sight of the Galaxy map. August turned left and approached the door that led to the armory. Touching another holographic panel (it seemed that they were a common sight here) opened the door and revealed the room filled with workbenches, lockers and several weapon and armor peaces carefully lay down here and there.

The dark skinned soldier Gallardi saw earlier was working on something near one of the workbenches. He was already out of his armor, wearing only black and white bodyglove. The soldier turned to the sound of the opening door.

"Captain Gallardi, I take it?" He asked and approached August. "The Commander said you would be coming. I'm Jacob Taylor, Normandy's Armory Officer"

Jacob offered his hand and Gallardi shook it. "August Gallardi. The Commander said you could help with fully airtight armor."

"Of course, Captain, we keep several spare in case the current gear gets damaged," He waved his hand for August to follow him. "Though I'm surprised you aren't equipped with one. Most of the soldiers in the Alliance have either hard- or wetsuits."

"The Guard is usually reserved for ground work. The Space Marines are usually sent to deal with hazards that would kill a normal man. Their power armor is fully insulated." Gallardi explained.

"Huh, good to hear that even in the future the marines are still the elite." Jacob chuckled slightly.

"True, they are warriors unmatched," August confirmed.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you join them?"

"I don't follow you, Officer Taylor," Gallardi replied, his expression puzzled.

"Please Captain, I'm implying anything," Jacob said, raising his hands. "It's just I'm a Marine and honestly, you don't look like a pushover to me. So the question is: why didn't you join the Marines."

"You say you're..." August looked at Jacob appraisingly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think we might have a misunderstanding here."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me Taylor, what is a Marine to you? What does the term imply?" Gallardi asked, laying his rifle on the nearby workbench and taking off his helmet.

"They are some of the toughest and best equipped soldiers in the Alliance, second only to the N Special Forces," Jacob replied, crossing his arms.

"And the 'N' Special Forces are?"

"They are the best of the best, they have the toughest training in almost every field. Commander Shepard is an N Seven special operative with the highest level of experience," Jacob explained.

"I understand now. You see, the Imperial Guard would be a similar to your Marines. They are better disciplined and equipped than average Planetary Defense Force units," August told him and pointed at himself. "Storm troopers like me would be like your N Special Forces, we're the Guard's elite. Now, the Space Marines are something else entirely."

"How so?"

"The Space Marines, or Adeptus Astartes as their official designation goes, are super soldiers genetically engineered using the template created by the Emperor at the dawn of the Imperium. They are around two and a half meters tall. Their strength, reflexes, endurance and speed are way beyond anything a normal man could ever achieve," Gallardi explained to the best of his knowledge. "They are armed with superior weapons and wear power armor that just shrugs off small arms fire. They say they know no fear and personally, I believe every word of that. I have never seen one break or retreat. They are the true Emperor's chosen, His Angels of Death."

"Man, they sound like really tough guys." Jacob said, impressed. "But you still haven't said why you haven't joined them."

August chuckled. "Ha! You don't just go to a recruiting station and say 'I want to be a Space Marine', no. You need to be born on one of their recruitment worlds, or happen to be in the same system when their ships arrive. You also need to be relatively young and in top physical condition for them to consider you as a supplicant. Then you have to pass some sort of initiation ritual and so on and so forth. Some say that only one in ten actually survives to become a Space Marine."

"I see. Thanks for the explanation," Jacob nodded and turned to armor lockers. "Let's get back to the reason you are here. Judging by your current armor you would prefer the heavier stuff."

Gallardi looked down at his trusty carapace armor. He did not relish the prospect changing it to something else, something untested. He looked at several hardsuits placed in the lockers and saw lighter variants that looked like a slightly armored bodygloves. An Idea struck him and he asked Jacob.

"Tell me, are those lighter variants are also fully insulated?"

"Yeah, not everyone can wear the heavy armor," Jacob said and looked at August. "Why do ask? You have some ideas?"

"Can you take the light armor and weld my armor pieces to it?" Gallardi asked, taking off his gauntlet and offering it to Jacob.

Jacob took the gauntlet examined it and used his omnitool to scan it.

"I think it can be done," he said as he looked through the readings. "You know, your armor actually is more advanced than ours. Different layers of ceramics, armored weave, ablative coating. I can use this to somehow improve our current armor. Are you okay with that, Captain?"

"I don't see why I wouldn't be." August said and took out his rebreather. "This will make my helmet fully insulated. We use them to breathe when making sub-orbit drops."

"I'll connect it to the suit's rebreather," Jacob said and added. "I'll warn you though, your kinetic barriers will be weaker than those of heavy armor."

"The kinetic barriers?"

Jacob looked at Gallardi. "I take you don't have those. Hell, you people must be braver than I think to fight without barriers."

He promptly explained the principles of the kinetic barriers. Gallardi considered this information.

"You say these barriers block only fast moving solid slug projectiles and shrapnel pieces. But what about energy weapons?"

Jacob looked at Captain's lasrifle. "Shepard mentioned about your laser weapon. Are they widespread in your time?"

August patted his weapon. "These ones? No, they're reserved mostly for the storm troopers. But Guardsmen have less powerful variants of lasrifles, and yes, they're the Guard's most commonly used weapons."

"That's probably the reason you didn't use the barriers," Jacob scratched his chin. "They're useless against directed energy weapons."

Gallardi shrugged. "I don't know. Solid slug weaponry like autocannons, stubbers or bolters are still used. Also, there's always a matter of shrapnel from grenades and shells. If we had those barriers, our casualties would be much lower."

"True," Jacob nodded and turned to the workbench. "You'll need to leave the armor here. It'll take some time but think I will finish it before next deployment."

August started to remove his armor piece by piece. "Good. Also I'll need some sort of recharge station for the powerpacks from my weapon."

"I'm not an expert on energy systems. Maybe we should ask Professor Solus for help." Jacob suggested.

"You have a magos on the ship?"

"Magos? I think he'd like that term. Yes the salarian Professor is part of our crew," Jacob said and seeing Gallardi's confusion added. "The amphibian alien with a broken horn."

The Captain's expression immediately became stern. "No! This is a valuable Imperial technology, it must not fall into xenos hands. Surely there's a human enginseer on this ship that can help us?"

Jacob looked at Gallardi appraisingly. "I see it really bothers you sir. Hm, let me think. Donnelly can probably help us with this too, he is the ship's energy systems engineer. Don't worry, he's human."

August nodded. "That would be better."

"Alright," Jacob nodded back and turned to look at the small console on the wall. "EDI?"

EDI's avatar popped up from the console. "Yes, Mr Taylor?"

"Tell Donnelly we need him here."

"Sending request," EDI was silent for a moment. "Engineer Donnelly informs me that he will arrive shortly."

"Good, thanks EDI" Jacob nodded and turned to his workbench.

"Logging you out, Mr. Taylor," EDI replied and blinked out.

Several minutes later, the door to the armory hissed open and a redheaded man entered. He blinked several times when he registered Gallardi and then turned to Jacob.

"EDI said you need my help, Operative Taylor," the man asked in heavy accent.

"Yes, Donnelly. I want you to meet Captain August Gallardi. He's one the new crew members," Jacob replied and turned to Gallardi, who already took off his armor and stood in his navy blue Harakoni uniform. "Captain, this is Engineer Kenneth Donnelly."

Donnelly stood at attention and saluted. "Sir."

August smiled slightly and offered his hand. "You don't need to salute me, Engineer Donnelly, I'm from a different military organization."

Donnelly stood at ease and shook the Captain's hand. "Yes sir. So, how can I help you?"

Gallardi showed him the powerpacks. "I need you to make a recharging station for these. The optimal specifications are inscribed on top; see if you can make sense of them."

Donnelly took the powerpack and narrowed his eyes trying to read the inscription.

"The words, they look like... I don't know, Latin? As for the numbers... Well, here is frequency and amperage and that's... Yeah, I can do it," Donnelly nodded. "How soon do you need it?"

"The sooner the better," Gallardi replied. "I would like to have them all fully charged before the next deployment."

"I'll get to it as soon as my shift in the reactor is over," Kenneth promised him, nodded to Jacob and turned to leave.

August nodded and turned to Jacob. "Now I believe I promised Commander Shepard that I would share was was behind my laser technology. I cannot give the whole production cycle of a weapon, I'm no tech priest. All I can is to disassemble the weapon and show you what each part does."

"That's fine. EDI will record everything and I'll make the scans, then we can give them to scientists so they can figure out the rest." Jacob said and took his omnitool.

Gallardi moved to the workbench and started to disassemble his weapon, loudly commentating on his every move. Unlike the majority of Guardsmen, who knew very little of the inner workings of their lasguns beside disassembling and cleaning, the storm troopers were trained to know how their hellguns and hotshot lasguns worked because they can find themselves behind enemy lines with closest tech priest hundreds of kilometers away, or even on another planet.

August finished explaining the last piece and put it down on the workbench. "Well, that's everything I know."

"And that's a lot better than us trying to figure it out ourselves." Jacob replied. "Sir, this weapon is far more advanced than anything we have so I hope you don't mind my next question. What's the deal with the sword?"

Gallardi took out his saber and activated it. "Sometimes enemy gets close enough."

"Wow, wow, wow," Jacob looked slightly mesmerized by the glowing blade. "I take it this isn't just a simple blade?"

"It's power weapon. It can cut through even a Space Marines' power armor," August replied, deactivating the power field and placing the blade on the workbench. "Unfortunately the method for their creation is long lost. I have no idea how it works. Only how to maintain it... Oh! That reminds me."

Gallardi reached for his belt and retrieved the plasma pistol. "This is another example of lost Imperial tech. We only know how to produce ammo canisters for them. It's a plasma pistol."

"It looks menacing. I take it's even better than the laser weapons?" Jacob asked curiously.

"It has a very limited amount of shots per magazine and requires time to charge before firing. It's prone to overheating and exploding, which risks killing or injuring the wielder," August replied as he placed the potent weapon on the table.

Jacob smiled and crossed his arms. "O-o-okay, I get the drawbacks. What are the benefits?"

"The enemy will need to have tank grade armor in order to survive," Gallardi answered and turned to Jacob. "Unfortunately, it has only three shots left and I have no spare canisters. Once again, I haven't the slightest idea of the inner workings."

"Hm, well I can still make scans of it and give scientists to try and figure it out."

Gallardi shrugged. "Maybe. You're lacking in some aspects of technology, but you're more advanced in others. Those... holographic tools and barriers you have, we have nothing like that. Maybe a fresh look will uncover the weapons' secrets."

"It's worth a shot," Jacob nodded. "Well, unless you have any other exotic weapons... Sir, I think you're wounded," He said as he looked at Gallardi's legs.

August looked down and saw a blood stain on his trousers from a gash on his thigh. "Damn it, with all this happening, I completely forgot about it."

"You'd better get that looked upon," Jacob said with concern. "You should see Dr Chakwas in the med bay. It is on the same side of the ship, one deck down."

"Yes, yes. And Dr Chakwas is?"

Jacob smiled. "Yes, she's human."

"Thank the Emperor for small mercies," Gallardi nodded and added before leaving. "I'll leave you to your work Officer Taylor. I look forwards to fighting alongside you in the future."

"Likewise Captain," Jacob replied and turned to continue scanning the disassembled lasgun.

Following the Jacobs directions, August soon found the med bay. Once he entered, he saw a gray-haired woman working behind the desk. She rotated on her chair to look at the newcomer.

"Dr Chakwas?" Gallardi asked her.

"That would be me. You must be the new addition to the crew the Commander told me about. It is good that that you..." The doctor began but stopped as soon as she caught the sight of a bloodstain on August's leg. "Oh bloody hell, if you're wounded, why didn't you come earlier? You want that wound to fester? Out of the uniform and on the couch. Now."

Gallardi was a little taken aback by the woman's commanding tone but quickly pulled himself together and moved towards the medical bed.

"Alright, but I'm warning you - I'm not a pretty sight." August told the woman in a light tone.

"Young man, I'm pushing 40 years in medical practice. I'm pretty sure I've seen enough war wounds," The doctor replied plainly, standing with her back to him preparing her instruments.

* * *

><p>Chakwas almost finished her preparations when she heard a clanking noise behind her. At first, she thought that it was nothing important but when the sounds repeated, she turned to look at Gallardi. Her eyes started to widen.<p>

The Captain was sitting on the medical bed in his undershirt and briefs, his uniform stacked nearby. He had a sizeable gash on his thigh, though clogged with congealed blood. However, it was not the wound that caught her attention. Nor the numerous burns and scars covering the man's body.

Gallardi's left arm was cybernetic from the elbow down. Both of his legs were also artificial starting from the knee joint. While cybernetics were already common in current medicine, they were usually covered in synthetic flesh. Seeing the man that looked partially like a machine was a little disconcerting.

"Alright, I take my words back. This is new to me," Chakwas said as she approached the bed and motioned the Captain to lie down. "What happened? You went through hell and then decided to go for another spin?"

Gallardi smiled only slightly. "Probably several spins. Service to the Emperor is not a kind mistress."

"I can see that," Chakwas replied and moved the medical scanner closer to the bed. "I'll need to do a full physical examination and run you through the decontamination several times. If you are indeed from the future or parallel dimension or whatever, God only knows what sort of bacteria and viruses you might have."

"I understand, doctor," Gallardi replied diligently.

Chakwas moved to take his uniform. "Also, we'll probably need to dispose of this."

Gallardi move to forestall her. "No, please. I have only a few things to remind me of the Imperium as it is."

Chakwas looked at him and nodded. "I see it's important to you. Very well, I'll ask Sergeant Gardner to clean it for you. He'll deal with it before we're done here."

The doctor exited the med bay and waived Gardner to approach her. "Sergeant could you please take this to the laundry, and there is a blood stain on one of the legs. Once you're done, could you please return it here?"

"Sure thing, doctor," Gardner nodded.

"Thank you," Chakwas replied and returned to the med bay. She took her medigel dispenser and approached the bed.

"I am going to clean your wound and apply a dose of medigel. It's substance we use to boost the tissue regeneration process." The doctor said as she started to clear the wound of congealed blood. Then she applied the medigel and Gallardi was surprised to see that the wound was already not bleeding.

"I have never seen a medication so efficient," he said in wonder. "Is this a... xenotech?"

"Xeno? Oh! Right, alien technology," Chakwas replied. "No, medigel is actually the Humanity's gift to the Galaxy. Technically the Citadel Council laws should outlaw it but it's too effective to be banned.

Gallardi looked thoughtful and then chuckled. "I don't know whether I should rejoice that it was Mankind who created something like this, or fuming with rage because it was willingly shared with aliens."

"You don't get along with aliens back home?" Chakwas asked him as she moved on to begin her tests.

"No we do not, and it's disturbing to see how easily you do," the Captain replied.

The doctor shrugged. "They have their share of saints and sinners. If you look closer, you'll see that Humanity is not so different from them in such a regard."

Gallardi looked thoughtful once again and nodded slightly. "I would have argued with you if your words weren't so close to the truth. Still, aliens are aliens and they will always place their species above everyone else's."

"The same can be said about us Humans, wouldn't you agree Captain?"

"True, but in the Imperium we believe that we have the divine right given to us by the Emperor to rule the Galaxy." Gallardi told her.

"Judging by our second guest's earlier attitude they believe in something similar," Chakwas smiled as she mentioned the eldar.

The man actually laughed at that. "Oh, you have no idea doctor."

* * *

><p>Some time later when the tests were over, the doctor was looking through some sort of dataslate, reviewing her results.<p>

"Some of the tests will take some time to process but at first glance I can say that you are fit for duty Captain." Chakwas told August as she looked up from her dataslate. "I'll prescribe you several immune-boosting injections later."

"Thank you doctor. I also have a question about the aliens. Should I be concerned about anything I might catch from them?"

"Now that is a good question. Are all soldiers of the Imperium so diligent with their health?" Chakwas asked, looking amused. "Alliance soldiers try to get away from the injections most of the time."

Gallardi smiled at the memory of him and Commissar Al'Hatab personally inspecting every soldier for passing the obligatory injections before each deployment. Sometimes it seemed the Guardsmen were more afraid of the needles than the enemies of the Imperium.

"No doctor, most of them are not," he told Chakwas. "I guess some things are universal."

"Or trans-universal in your case," the doctor chuckled. "But back to your question: You should not concern yourself with Garrus, the one with scales and mandibles. He is a turian and they have completely different chemical structure. Their diseases don't affect us and ours don't affect them. You also should not eat anything that is labeled for turians; it will have a 'dextro-protein' label."

August nodded. "And the...the salarian, is that correct?"

"I'll add an additional injection, although I'm sure you will not pick something from Mordin. He is a xenobiologist after all," Chakwas told him and made several notes in slate. "I also have two last questions. First, I detected several genetic modifications. Can you tell me what those are?"

"Standard storm trooper genetic tailoring," Gallardi explained. "Increased speed and endurance. Heightened pain threshold."

"I see. Some of them might be considered illegal in Council Space," The doctor mused. "But I think working with a Spectre will solve any problems. The second question is about your cybernetics. I did a scan and I can't detect any source of energy inside them, yet they are not simple prosthetics. What feeds them?"

"I have absolutely no idea. I know how to clean and maintain them, but the inner workings?" August shook his head.

"Hm, we'll probably have to ask Professor Solus for help."

"Why is it always the salarian? Don't you know some human specialist who can look into it?" Gallardi asked, slightly raising his voice.

"Please calm down Captain. I am the human specialist here. I know about all advances in the cybernetic implants at this moment and I can't help you with this," Chakwas replied evenly. "Mordin on the other hand is very good with the experimental and unknown alien technology. I can't promise you anything, but if anyone can figure it out it will be him."

August was not convinced. The doctor continued as if sensing his reluctance.

"Look, young man, I am sure that if we give the scans to a big enough human research department, in a couple of months they might produce some results," Chakwas said and crossed her arms. "But what if something happens during that time? What if the limb is damaged and we will have no means of repairing it? You'll become more of a liability than an asset to the crew."

Gallardi wanted to retort, but kept his mouth shut. The doctor was right. Back in the Imperium, he relied on the techpriests to repair his augmentics, should they become damaged somehow. Here, without the qualified help, some well-placed shots from heavy weaponry would quickly reduce him to a cripple.

"How much do you trust this salarian?" August asked the doctor.

"Well, he works on the countermeasure to a Collector weapon that allows them to render humans immobile, so I can say that every human member of the crew trusts him with their lives."

Gallardi pondered on this. It was not as if the augmentics had a great military value. They were simply replacements for the lost limbs and while had their advantages like being able to run longer or the ability to crush a man's skull with his hand they were a little less flexible than the originals.

"Very well. I'll agree for him to analyze the schematics, but on one condition," August said reluctantly. "Whatever he finds he gives to you so you can deliver it to your human colleagues. This way the Humanity will not be at a disadvantage."

"Oh, you should not worry about that. Mordin just loves to share his discoveries." Chakwas said, smiling. She turned to her console and started typing on her console. The console beeped once and the image of the salarian appeared, followed by several squawking noises.

"Sorry for interrupting you Professor but I have something I want you to look at," Chakwas said to the alien and started to explain the problem. The salarian said something in his squawking language and the doctor smiled in response. "I am sure you will, Mordin. Contact me if you find anything."

The salarian nodded and the image disappeared. Chakwas turned back to very puzzled Gallardi.

"Do you actually understand that gibberish?" He asked her.

"Of course. Why would I..." The doctor began but stopped. She smiled and tapped her temple. "You don't have a translator implant, right?"

She quickly explained on how various races managed to communicate without actually studying each other's language. "If you wish I can install one for you, we have all the equipment required for the procedure."

August nodded determinately. "Yes, yes definitely. If I am going to work alongside aliens, I'll need to understand them properly."

"Good. I will make preparations and tell EDI to inform you once everything is ready."

There was a knock on the door. The doctor stood up and approached the entrance to the med bay. When the door opened, Gallardi saw the man he noticed earlier behind the counter in the mess hall. The man was carrying Gallardi's uniform and his combat boots, so August guessed that this man was Sergeant Gardner Dr Chakwas mentioned earlier.

"There you go Doc." Gardner gave the uniform to Chakwas and looked at August. The man's eyes widened as he caught sight of Gallardi's artificial limbs. "Well I'll be damned. First it's Shepard than Zaeed and Garrus and now you, sir. You should definitely start a club." He smiled, nodded to Chakwas and left the room.

When Chakwas walked back to Gallardi to give him his uniform, she was smiling too. Gallardi started to dress.

"What was the Sergeant referring to?" He asked the doctor.

"To the fact that all of the people he mentioned managed to survive grievous wounds and have cybernetics installed," The doctor chuckled. "Garrus caught a missile to the face. Massani somehow survived a shot in the head. And the Commander... Well she's forty percent hardware by now."

"What happened?" August asked as he started to buckle up his uniform.

"Our old ship was destroyed by the Collectors two years ago..." Chakwas started to retell him the most recent story of Commander Shepard. How she died saving the ship's pilot. How her remains were recovered by someone called Cerberus. How she was rebuilt by this Cerberus and brought back to life. Because of that, some of her organs and most of the skeleton were artificial, although the doctor said her cybernetics were more subtle. If not for glowing scars that will heal in time, no one would notice that the woman was partially a machine.

Gallardi's respect for Shepard was rising by each second. The woman must have had an indomitable spirit to be able to cling to her own body so that once she was reconstructed, she would continue to serve once again.

"That is a remarkable story, doctor," August said once Chakwas finished her story.

"Indeed, though you seem to believe it quite easily," she mentioned. "In your time, do people frequently return from the dead?"

"No, but there are several documented instances when great heroes died on the battle field and then returned back as saints."

"You say documented? As in texts and witness accounts?" The doctor asked slightly incredulous.

"That too and some even have vid recordings. The Imperial cult is meticulous in such things," Gallardi nodded.

"I see," Chakwas said thoughtfully.

August looked down at his pants and saw the hole where he received the wound. "I don't suppose you can tell me where I can get a needle and thread?"

"Of course I can," Chakwas said and walked towards one of her lockers. "I'm a doctor, remember? I stitch people up," she said as he offered him a dark blue thread and a needle.

Gallardi quickly repaired his trousers. He returned the sewing kit gratefully and was starting to leave the med bay when EDI's avatar popped up from the console.

"Captain Gallardi, the Commander wishes to know if you could join her and the crew in the debriefing room."

August looked at the blue ball. "Of course I can. That is, once I know where the debriefing room is."

"You might have noticed the second room in the Armory. It leads to a corridor to the Tech Lab and a Communications Room. Once you enter the corridor, take the first door to the right," EDI directed him. "Shall I inform the Commander of your coming?"

"Please do." Gallardi replied.

"Logging you out, Captain," EDI informed him and blinked out.

Gallardi turned to Chakwas. "Thank you for your help, doctor. I shall see you once the translator implanting procedure is ready."

"Goodbye Captain," Chakwas said and rotated back to her desk.

Gallardi made his way to the Communication Room. He opened the final door and saw a spacious room with large oval table and several chairs. There were six people sitting in the room. Commander Shepard was sitting at the head of the table, dressed in black and white uniform without any markings. By her right was the skeptical brunette woman August saw earlier. She too was without her armor, wearing a skintight body suit that left little to the imagination. Next to her was the salarian. He was engrossed in his holographic tool, probably looking through the schematics Dr Chakwas sent him.

The turian, Garrus, was sitting by the Shepard's left side. He was wearing some kind dark blue clothing. August guessed he must have somehow earned the Commander's trust because the alien was one of the two people sitting next to Shepard. Next to the turian was Jacob Taylor. And the last person was a short woman wearing black bodyglove with a hood covering most of her face.

Gallardi felt the door close behind him. All of the people present turned and looked at him.

"Ah, Captain! We were just talking about you," Shepard smiled and motioned for him to sit opposite her. "My XO here, Miranda Lawson, is skeptical about my choice of accepting you into our team. Although you do strike everyone as an imposing figure, Miranda has a valid point: we know next to nothing about your military qualification and service history. Perhaps you can give us some information about yourself?"

"I understand. I won't provide you with details, because most of the worlds' names and the events that happened on them will make no sense to you." Gallardi said as he sat down and crossed his arms. "My service to the Emperor began when I was enrolled in the Schola Progenium at the age of ten. It's a military academy of sorts. There I was selected for storm trooper training. I graduated at the age of eighteen with the rank of corporal. I was assigned to the newly mustered 511th Harakoni drop trooper regiment as a part of their storm trooper detail. We specialize in sub-orbital drops and rapid deployment."

Miranda and Mordin were making notes of everything he said. Shepard nodded and motioned him to continue.

"At that time the 13th Black crusade was still raging across the Imperium, so most of the time I was fighting against the heretic forces. I was part of one operation against the necrons, though we had a support role. The Space Marines did most of the job. I was promoted to sergeant after that. Our regiment also participated in a campaign against the orks in the Loki systems..." August continued as he saw Shepard grin and several people snickering. Both Miranda and the salarian were staring at him skeptically.

"I'm sorry Captain, but did I hear you correctly? Orks?" The Commander asked.

"Yes Commander. Orks. Why, you haven't heard of them too?" Gallardi asked in return.

"Well, are they like big, green aliens with huge tusks and axes?" Shepard asked, barely containing her laughter.

"Also makeshift heavy caliber weapons and a lot of looted equipment, but yes, you have the right description," August replied. "Let me guess, they also exist just as myth and fairy tales."

Shepard nodded. "You have both space elves and space orks. What else, space dwarfs?"

"Depends on what you imply by that term." August replied evenly.

The woman in the hood leaned forward. "Ooh, they are short but broad and strong. They have long beards, winged helmets and they like to mine and drink." The woman's excitement was evident.

Gallardi rubbed the back of his neck. "You probably refer to one of the abhumans, the squats," he told them and heard more snickering. "Last I remember only several small settlements remained throughout the Imperium. Some of them serve in the Imperial Guard to avenge the near-extinction of their people."

The merry mood suddenly evaporated. "What happened?" The Commander asked.

"A tyranid splinter fleet destroyed their homeworld."

"And the tyranids are?" Miranda asked Gallardi.

August looked at Garrus and said. "If you take the turian here, make his scales, teeth and talons bigger and paint him in gaudy colors you get a rough image of tyranids. However, they may vary depending on their role. They are the race of aliens that invaded our Galaxy from Dark Space. They travel in huge Hive Fleets from world to world, consuming all life and useful resources on those planets to increase their own biomass."

"They sound awfully like the Reapers," Shepard mentioned.

"I guess," Gallardi shrugged. "Although the major difference will be that the tyranids are completely organic."

"Have you fought against them too?" Jacob asked.

Images of Sataria flashed before the Captain's eyes. He saw rows upon row of screeching horrors rushing towards his unit's positions. He heard the cries of the people he served alongside for sixteen years as they were cut down by this mindless horde. He once again heard the warning cry of Sergeant Sorenson as the man shielded him.

"Captain?" Shepard asked carefully.

"Sorry Commander. Yes, I have fought against the tyranids," August replied. He continued to recount his service history. How after the ork campaign he was promoted to Lieutenant and took command of the regiment's storm trooper detail. Mentioned several operations against the heretics including the cleansing of Cadia. Mentioned his promotion to Captain and his brief overall command of the battalion. He skipped the details about Sataria and moved on to his recruitment by the Ordo Xenos. Gallardi noted several operations for the Inquisition, where their main objective was to uproot the genestealer cults across the Segmentum Tempestus.

"Well that should tell you everything you need," August said and leaned back in his chair. "The quick summary: sixteen years as storm trooper, four years as Sergeant, ten years as an officer. Almost a year as an Inquisitorial Agent. 319 deployments, 102 of them are sub orbital drops. I have twenty two commendations but those would not mean anything to you."

"I'm sure you earned every last one of them," Shepard nodded and turned to her XO. "That answers your question, Miranda?"

"One more thing. Captain, you say you had over three hundred deployments. If my calculations are correct, your Imperium needs to be in a constant war with someone so that you could have such a busy schedule," the woman asked Gallardi.

"The Imperium of Man was at war with someone or something for the last ten thousand years," Gallardi replied. "If it is not xenos, its heretics. If not heretics, then it's just dissidents. There is always war."

"It must be a bleak world you live in." The Commander said sympathetically.

"It is not bright, yes." August nodded. "But the Emperor protects."

Shepard nodded back. "Well, I guess we will find out for certain how good you are during the next deployment. There is also another question we would like you answer. About our quest, the eldar Maeteris. What can you tell us about her and the eldar in general?"

"I have met this... Maeteris only recently, so I can't say much about her other that she is a powerful psyker and deadly with the sword," Gallardi said, shrugging. "As for the eldar in general - one can never tell. They are a very enigmatic race, who once ruled the galaxy before some great catastrophe wiped out most of their race. Now they mostly traverse the galaxy in huge ships, the Craftworlds. They are arrogant, they think that they are better than any other race."

"Is she a threat to us?" Miranda asked. Mordin also asked something, but August only recognized the word 'psyker'. Everyone was looking at him for an answer but August shook his head, not understanding the salarian's question.

"The Professor asked what is the 'psyker'," Shepard translated.

"The psykers are... Well, people with the ability to manipulate the Immaterum one way or another," Gallardi said. "Their abilities may vary from reading minds, being able to send and receive astropatic messages through space and divination to more direct skills like making lightning or fire bolts, telekinesis and other sorcery. There are many human psykers in the Imperium. The eldar are all psykers to some extent. Some are more powerful than the others."

"So, a psyker is not a biotic," Shepard said thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry Commander but what is a biotic?" August asked curiously.

"Biotics are people who were exposed to Element Zero and survived. Me, Miranda and Jacob here are biotics," Shepard started to explain. "The Eezo in our bodies allows us to manipulate mass and energy. And before you ask - no, we cannot read peoples thoughts and control minds. We do not see the future. And we certainly don't know the secret spell to always stay fit."

The last sentence elicited chuckles from both Miranda and Jacob. Seeing the confusion on Gallardi's face, the Commander continued. "Sorry Captain, it's a biotic inside joke. Because of the Eezo, our metabolism is also increased so we need to eat more than the average human does. That is why you will never see an overweight biotic. However, back to the eldar. You say that she can read people's minds. Can she also control them? If yes, could she indeed pose a threat to us?"

"I cannot tell you for certain. The eldar usually care only for their own race. They will gladly sacrifice a million of human lives to save one eldar. On the other hand or people fought side by side several times against the forces of Chaos. And now she is the only eldar in the Universe. She has no higher cause to fight for."

"So, what do you propose to do with her?" Shepard asked Gallardi.

August pondered for a moment. "I think it is better to let her stay here where we can watch her."

Shepard looked around the table, but received only shrugs. She was thoughtful for minute and then declared.

"Alright, we let her stay. I think we are done here for a moment," she said and looked at Gallardi. "We're not going to see any action in the next couple of days so I have a suggestion for you Gallardi. I will send my yeoman, Kelly Chambers, to install you a connection to the Extranet in your cabin."

"What is the Extranet?"

"Promise me to never ask such question in public or everyone will think you're some sort of savage," the Commander smiled. "The Extranet is basically a huge source of information open for public use. The information there is not an absolute truth, but it will help you to understand the Galaxy a little and familiarize yourself with different alien species. Some of the information will disturb you. Just try to keep an open mind."

"An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded." Gallardi quoted one of the holy writings.

"Well yes, you're right to some extent," the Commander told him. "Let me put it this way: leave your guard up, double check everything that comes inside but at least allow something in. Ignorance will do you no good here."

"That is a sound advice, Commander," Gallardi nodded and stood up. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes. The food will be served soon. You're welcome to join us," Shepard informed him and August suddenly felt extremely hungry.

* * *

><p>Maeteris sat on her knees in her cabin. She was trying to find her center after the last revelation and was failing repeatedly. The knowledge that she was completely alone was gnawing at her mind. She would never hear the familiar speech of her kin and their graceful thoughts. She would never hear the beautiful music of the bonesingers or the comforting whispers of the ancestral spirits in the crystal gardens of Ulthwe. It took all of her strength and training not to break down in hysterics or even worse. The brief thought of ending her life was quickly pushed away as unworthy of a proud eldar Farseer.<p>

Still the sense of loneliness reinforced by the almost deafening silence in the Warp was slowly driving her mad. Therefore, she decided to something she never did before. She decided not to filter out the Mon-Keigh thoughts.

The wave of thoughts assaulted immediately assaulted her and she almost shut herself off instinctively. Yet Maeteris forced herself to endure and soon she could hear every soul on the ship. Two voices immediately stood out as not human. One was stoic but troubled by feelings of guilt. The other was fast and springy despite the sense of old age. Maeteris noted to herself to try to learn the languages from this two aliens. It was not as if she had anything to do so she might at least entertain her mind with some study.

The minds of the humans we strange. They didn't feel as guarded and bitter as most of the Imperials were. They were more open, cautious but not downright distrustful. The mind of the Imperial soldier, August, immediately stood out amongst them. The Farseer didn't want to admit it but his mind was the most familiar thing she felt right now and it was... slightly comforting.

The other humans were undoubtedly curious about the newcomers. Their thoughts varied from mild distrust from an old wizened Mon-Keigh in the lower part of the ship to a barely contained excitement from a young redhead on the upper deck. Maeteris already knew that the girl practically begged the ship's mistress to allow her to talk to the Farseer. The ship's mistress politely denied the request out of respect for Maeteris' wish for solitude.

She had heard the how the ship's crew discussed her and her kin with August. She was a little surprised when he gave them not a biased, propaganda filled version but something very close to the truth. He was right in his assumption that the eldar placed their kin above everyone else. Such was their way for they indeed considered themselves superior to others in almost every aspect. Almost.

Now, here in this universe Maeteris could try to boast of her race's accomplishments, but those words would be hollow. She had almost nothing to prove her words. The only proof of her kin's craftsmanship was her armor and sword that were peacefully standing in the corner. Maeteris herself was wearing a white skintight undersuit. She decided to wear her tabard over it so that if she needed to leave her cabin the Mon-Keigh would not stare too much.

She felt that most of the Mon-Keigh started to gather in the hall. One of the aliens joined them. They gathered in a row near one of the humans, who started to distribute the food. "_Yes, these Mon-Keigh are very different,_" Maeteris thought to herself. Imperials would never share their food with an alien.

The ship mistress, Victoria Shepard, also descended from her personal cabin, but instead of taking her food, she moved towards the Farseer's cabin. She approached the door and pressed the holographic interface to announce her arrival. For a moment, Maeteris wanted to say she did not want to be disturbed, but decided to grant the human some courtesy. She approached the door and opened it. The human was dressed casually and she slightly inclined her head as she began to speak.

"Farseer, may I come in?"

"Of course. This is your ship after all." Maeteris told her and moved further into the cabin.

Shepard entered and the door slid behind her.

"I apologize for disturbing you, but there are several things I wish to ask you"

"I'm listening," the Farseer said plainly.

"First thing is important. We are serving the food now and I suddenly understood that we know nothing about the eldar biology. I am not sure even if we have something suitable for you," Shepard queried.

"The eldar bodies are similar to humans' in this regard. Something suitable for you would be suitable for me," Maeteris replied. "I want to assure you that I will require little sustenance."

"No please, we have enough supplies. There is no need to limit yourself," the human told her.

"It is part of the eldar nature to limit oneself," Maeteris stated. "Was there anything else?"

The Mon-Keigh was silent for a moment. Maeteris knew she was probably considering her next words.

"What I'm going to say next would probably sound ridiculous. You see, you may have already met the humans in your universe but for us this is actually a first contact with your species," Shepard suddenly took a deep breath. "So, as the senior officer of this ship, it is my duty to officially greet you on behalf of the Systems Alliance and Humanity as a whole. I know not of your history with my race before, but it is my sincere hope that there will be peace between our people."

Shepard finished and bowed slightly.

Maeteris was staring at the human. "_This Mon-Keigh is mocking me!_" The Farseer thought. "_She has to be..._" Maeteris reached out with her mind to find the evidence. She looked through the woman's mind... And found nothing except honesty.

She now knew many things about this human. She did not expect to see something in Mon-Keigh. Shepard was strong, not only physically and mentally but also strong in her belief that she can make the world a better place for everyone. It was an extremely naive goal. However, with humans you can never tell. The majority of them were insignificant. They lived and died without leaving any trace in history. Yet sometimes there were individuals with enough energy to reshape the Galaxy.

Victoria Shepard was one of such individuals. She would rather die than betray her beliefs. And Maeteris knew that death already tried to claim this one and ended up with nothing.

The Farseer retreated with her psychic powers and saw that Shepard was still waiting for an answer.

"You are correct, this does sound a bit foolish," Maeteris replied and saw the human tense a little. "Yet I sense sincerity in your words. I return you greetings, if not from my kin, than from me personally."

Victoria immediately relaxed. "I am glad to hear it."

"I know why you did it. You care about the well-being of your crew," Maeteris continued. "I want to assure you that I bear them no ill will. If you are uncomfortable with my presence, I will not resist and I can leave your vessel at the earliest convenience."

"That will not be necessary. You're our guest and we will treat you as such." The human replied. "Not much escapes you, I see."

"Pretty much yes," the Farseer stated. "And therefore I have a request. Tell your pilot to either stop viewing whatever explicit material he watches or at least control his thoughts. They are... disgusting."

Shepard's eyes widened. "Oh... Um, do I even want to know?"

"No, you really don't," Maeteris told her. "Now, if that is all, I would really like to be left alone for some time."

"Then I shall leave you in peace," the human replied and turned to leave.

"Both of you, if you please," the Farseer added. Shepard looked back, clearly not understanding.

Maeteris looked at her bed. She felt the second human presence from the very beginning. The thief had slipped in right after Victoria, thinking that her stealth equipment could fool the Farseer. The air fizzled and the short human female in black suit and covered head revealed herself.

"What? Kasumi? How did you..." Shepard stuttered.

"Oh she is good," Kasumi said cheerfully. "But I guess when you have ears that big you..."

She didn't finish the sentence because the Commander clamped her hand around the thief's mouth. Shepard was smiling widely at Maeteris.

"I'm sorry Lady Maeteris. She was probably just curious."

"No. She wanted to be the first thief to steal something from the eldar," Maeteris stated, easily picking the thoughts of the thief.

Shepard glared at Kasumi, who finally managed to free her mouth.

"Ooh, that is just brilliant!" Kasumi giggled in delight. "Um, what color..."

"Red," Maeteris replied and looked at Shepard. "Commander, please."

Shepard was smiling apologetically as she pushed the struggling thief out, while Kasumi desperately tried to ask Maeteris something about the next Galactic Lottery jackpot. When the door closed, the Farseer sat down on her knees once again. Maeteris knew she should not get angry with the Mon-Keigh thief. The woman wanted to steal something not because she wants to sell the stolen and gain profit, but because it was simply her nature. If this Kasumi was an eldar, she would have been a follower of Cegorach, the Laughing God.

Maeteris could not help but smile at the human behavior. Whatever future waited for her, it was certainly a curious one.

* * *

><p>AN Once again, sorry for no action scene.


	5. Extranet and visions of future

_People, I have two things I want to apologize for._

_First, I want to apologize for such a late update. I swear I have a good reason for this... Actually, I don't. Between work, Saints Row 3 and beta-testing The Old Republic I simply didn't have time to spare for writing._

_Second: remember how I promised that there would be action in this chapter? I LIED! Well actually I didn't. I hoped that things depicted in this chapter will only take a few paragraphs but they managed to fill the whole chapter. Therefore, I will not make any promises in the future. We'll just see how it goes._

_Not going to write the DISCLAIMER this time. For those of you who didn't see it look through the previous chapters._

_Right lets get back to the story._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Extranet and visions of future.<strong>

"_Wasserman would have loved this_," Gallardi thought as he searched through the Extranet. When Shepard told him that this was a public source of information, August expected a large database, but nothing this huge.

The Commander's yeoman, the cheerful redhead named Kelly Chambers, came to his cabin at the end of the first day. At least, that was what the ships day-to-night cycle was telling August. The yeoman, who insisted on simply being called Kelly, showed him how to operate the console and how to connect to the Extranet. It took a little time for Gallardi to orient himself with the keyboard since it was completely in Harkat, or English, as Kelly called the most commonly used Humanity's language. Still, save for a couple of symbols it was almost the same as High Gothic.

When Kelly finished her explanations, she paused for a moment and then asked August if he could spare some time and tell her a little about him and the place he came from. Judging by the huge grin on her face she was extremely excited by that prospect. However, Gallardi felt that his fatigue started to affect him, which was why he apologized to the young woman and promised to answer her questions some other time. His negative answer didn't sour Kelly's mood one bit. She said that she understood that he was exhausted and left his cabin wishing him to sleep well.

Sleeping well. It was not something you did when you served in the Guard as long as Gallardi did. The horrors you see always haunt you. Sometimes you are lucky and you just collapse from exhaustion and manage to sleep dreamless for several hours. But those occasions were rare.

Before going to sleep however, August kneeled in his room and started to pray for the Emperor's guidance. He asked the Emperor to grant him wisdom, courage and strength in the coming days. For in this foreign place he would need all of those to do his duty of protecting Mankind and to remain true to the Emperor's divine Word and Will. He also asked the Emperor to watch out for those who fell in His service recently: Inquisitor Sarebas Tarozu, proud and vigilant member of the Holy Ordos, and Senior Enforcer Jocasta Angelidis - steadfast defender of the Lex Imperialis and a good friend. Gallardi had no idea of Sahi's and Bruno's fate, but he still mentioned them in his prayers and hoped that they were all right.

Gallardi kissed the silver Aquila on his neck and finally decided to sleep, hoping that dreams would not come this time.

The next day, after mercifully dreamless night, August got up and went through his usual morning routine. To his relief, the Normandy had a training room on the lower deck near the cargo hold. When he got there, both Shepard and Jacob had been already there, working out. To Gallardi's surprise, the turian joined them some time later. Gallardi noted that the turians were probably capable of running faster than humans, seeing how the alien used the running track at a very high pace. August mind automatically looked for any obvious vulnerability. The most obvious were his bird like legs, which probably made it hard for the turians to swim unless they had some other hidden means for this.

After finishing his workout, August showered, took his morning meals form Sgt Gardner to his cabin and finally prepared himself to brave the Extranet. He used the information search engines while working for the Inquisition for looking through the Ordos' archives. The principle was similar - you enter a key word or phrase and pressed 'Search'. The main difference was that the Inquisitorial archive produced a hundred, maybe a thousand references. The Extranet was producing hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of references in a blink of an eye.

Moreover, they were not just a collection of reports made by some inquisitor. You could find almost everything about aliens: history, culture, anatomy, language dictionaries. He even saw a _schedule _for regular flights between Holy Terra (or simply Earth as the humans referred to it here) and turian homeworld Palaven. Regular flights to the alien homeworld! On a _comfortable _starship! The idea was too ridiculous at first, but when Gallardi saw that there were regular flights to almost every civilized planet, he had to accept that here and this was considered something absolutely normal.

Gallardi decided to follow the Commanders advice and familiarize himself with the various alien races that inhabited the Galaxy. He decided to start with so-called Council races. They were the races who had a representative in the Citadel Council and were effectively the ones who shaped the politics of the majority of the inhabited space. Gallardi decided to study them in order of joining the Council.

The first were the asari. A race that for all intents and purposes looked like human women, only with blue skin and some sort of short tentacles on their head instead of hair. They were the first of the known races to achieve spaceflight and were considered the most powerful and respected among the sapient species. They discovered the Citadel - a huge space station that was now a seat of the Council, and were seen as the Galaxy's main diplomats, mediators and counselors. "_Or manipulators, if you don't bother with the fancy terms_" Gallardi thought to himself. The asari were also one of the most long-lived species in the Galaxy and as if it was not enough they were also natural biotics.

August scratched his head thoughtfully about the information that the race was completely mono-gendered. Were they like orks, who reproduced by spores? Gallardi knew he should not care for such things but his curiosity got the better of him and he looked it up.

Apparently, the asari's method of reproduction involved some sort of 'mind meld'. Two aliens could link their minds and one of them would use the genetic information of her (its?) partner to create a new life inside herself. Then, after the gestation period, the asari gave birth just like human women. However, that was not all. It seemed that the asari did not require their partners to be only of their own kind, it can be almost any other sapient being. The resulting child will still be an asari but some said they absorbed some of their alien parent character traits. The latter was still a debatable issue.

The article about asari reproduction also stated that mating with aliens was not something that rarely happened. It was actually encouraged by the majority of the asari to seek out suitable partners among the other aliens. Pictures of most various pairs of aliens followed the article. Asari and the turian walking in the park. Asari and salarian sitting on a bench, their arms linked. Asari hugging the arm or a leg of some huge quadrupedal alien that was described as an 'elcor'. Gallardi was starting to get apprehensive of what he might see next. And the next picture displayed exactly what he was afraid to see.

August shut down the console almost immediately and took several steadying breaths to calm himself. A storm of emotions ranging from confusion and disbelief to revulsion and disgust was boiling inside him right now. Peaceful coexistence with aliens was one thing, but the humans here actually... copulated with these asari and spawned other asari as a result. Immediately the words of Shepard came to Gallardi's mind. She knew that something like this would freak him out. As it should; this was pure heresy.

"_Alright August, get a hold of yourself,_" Gallardi ordered himself. "_You saw daemons manifest themselves from the Warp. You saw aliens feast on the flesh of your comrades. Those things were real. This is also real and trying to deny it would not change_ _anything_. _Face it like you faced everything else._" Gallardi rubbed his eyes and took one more deep breath before activating the console once again. The screen revealed the offending picture and August studied it once again_._

It was a picture of a... family, if such a thing was possible with aliens. An adult man, probably in his middle thirties was standing with rather young looking asari, though it was hard to judge her age. In addition, on the man's shoulders was sitting miniature asari child. The child was pointing somewhere and her mouth was open in some sort of exclamation. Both of her parents were looking at what she was pointing at and smiling. If not for the blue skin and head tentacles, the trio could be taken for a wealthy family on some resort on the Imperial garden world. They all looked so... content and happy.

August briefly considered if the human in the picture was somehow mind controlled by his alien consort. He immediately searched for any information on whether asari could control the minds of others, but came up with many articles stating the opposite. He remembered the Commander's words that not everything here was an absolute truth. He would have to ask someone later about the asari.

Gallardi decided to move to the next major race - the salarians. After the shock from asari, they proved to be almost uninteresting. A race of amphibian origin, rather short lived. On the other hand, they matured, spoke and thought quicker than anyone else. They considered most of the races to be slow and ponderous. Some of the Galaxy's brightest scientists were salarians and they were also regarded as Galaxy's main espionage and reconnaissance specialists. August briefly wondered if their resident salarian was just a scientist or maybe someone else.

The third to earn the membership in the Council were the turians. A militaristic race of predatory species noted for their strong sense of public service. They provide the bulk of the Citadel Fleet and security forces. They were also the first race humanity fought against during the First Contact War. Gallardi studied the records about the conflict. In his opinion, it was not exactly war, more of an extended skirmish by the standards of the Imperium. Nevertheless, he was still glad that Mankind left a good first impression about itself. After the initial setback on the colony world of Shanxi, Humanity's counteroffensive probably scared the turians so much they decided to mobilize their entire military. However, before the contact escalated the Council intervened, negotiating the terms for peace and forcing the Turian Hierarchy to pay reparations for instigating the conflict in the first place.

The articles stated that while animosity between two species still lingered, they were showing signs of cooperation. One of such examples was the joint project between two military branches of the two races to design the first Normandy. It was a little hard for August to grasp the speed at which the enemies suddenly became military and trade partners - a little over quarter of century. Moreover, it was not only the humans who trusted aliens but the aliens were also accepting humanity. The larger part of Citadel security was now composed of humans and almost a third of Citadel Security Fleet consisted of the Alliance Navy warships.

This brought Gallardi to the final race to join the Citadel Council. During the Battle of the Citadel, the heroic sacrifices made by the Alliance Navy earned the gratitude and recognition of the Council. It was also reinforced by the decisive actions of the first human Spectre, Victoria Shepard. There were speculations that it was because of Shepard the current Council survived the battle and it was Shepard's recommendation that influenced the election of Humanity's current Councilor.

His curiosity piqued, August decided to search for more information about the Commander. There was quite a lot actually. She was born in a military family. Biotic. Military specialization - Sentinel. N7 specialist. Shepard had an impressive service record. Single-handedly organizing the defense of the colony of Elysium against a massive pirate raid, protecting Terra Nova from a batarian terrorist attack, saving the colony of Eden Prime from an attack by the rogue Council Spectre Saren Arterius and his Geth allies and defeating said Spectre during the Battle of the Citadel. Shepard had numerous awards, including the Star of Terra - the highest of Humanity's military honors, and a Wandering Star - the highest Citadel Council commendation.

There was a lot of information about her death in the year 2183 and even more speculations about her return in 2185. Some suggested that it has been just a cover up for some top-secret operation. Some information suggested that she also went rogue like Saren because of her ties with an organization named Cerberus. Gallardi remembered Dr Chakwas mentioning that Cerberus were the ones who brought the Commander back from the dead. He decided to look for more info about them.

To say that the information about Cerberus was confusing was a bit of an understatement. Cerberus declared itself as the organization that believed that humanity deserves a greater role in the galactic community and that all methods in advancing Humanity's ascension were justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Because of such actions, the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council declared the Cerberus a terrorist organization.

August scratched his chin. On one hand, he shared the Cerberus ideals about Humanity's ascension and that drastic measure and sacrifices (like Exterminatus) were needed to ensure the Mankind's survival. However, Cerberus was not an official organization; the government did not control it. In the Imperium of Man, every action was sanctioned by some legal institution, whether it was the authority of the High Lords of Terra or the Holy Ordos or the Martian Priesthood. True, the Astartes chapters were autonomous, but their actions were still defined either by the teachings of their Primarchs or by the Codex Astartes, which was also composed by a Primarch. The rogue traders were the most independent element of the Imperium but they were allowed because the great rogue trader dynasties held the Trade Charter signed by the Emperor Himself during the Great Crusade. The Imperium was ruled by order as opposed to chaos.

The actions of Cerberus were not sanctioned by anyone other than Cerberus themselves and it contradicted greatly with what the Imperium stood for. If there are no laws, no edicts or divine mandates to clearly define the role of the institution, then the said institution was a threat to the rule of the law and order. And if it was against law and order then it was on the side of chaos; not the same as that worshipped by Archenemy, but disorder and lawlessness nonetheless.

August decided he would need to ask Shepard about Cerberus later. If there was something Gallardi trusted, it was the opinion of revered heroes. With this in mind, he decided to learn a bit more about his current commanding officer. While looking through the references which once again mostly concerned her unexpected return, August stumbled over a particular article that was that was entitled "Was Commander Shepard into asari?". Steeling himself once again for what he might see next, August opened the link to the article.

The article itself was not a recitation of facts but more of an author's speculation about the great possibility of romantic relations between the First Human Spectre and one of the members of her team - an asari scientist by the name Liara T'Soni. The author largely used several pictures as a "proof" of their relationship. Gallardi frowned: some pictures were completely innocent (well, innocent in this world perhaps) where both Shepard and the alien were walking on the Citadel while laughing at something, probably a joke they just shared. Other pictures were different. A picture taken immediately after the Battle of the Citadel where Shepard, clearly injured with blood seeping from punctures on her armor, was supported by the same asari who was also fully armored, the alien's face contorted with worry. At least it looked like worry, it was impossible for August to say if asari expressions were similar to human ones.

The next picture was taken during the celebration ceremony over the victory in the Battle of the Citadel, particularly during the moment of silence to honor the fallen. Shepard stood among various humans and aliens and Gallardi immediately recognized the turian Garrus among them. August figured that this was probably the Commander's previous team. T'Soni was standing next to Shepard, both their expression solemn. There was a red circle on the picture the pointed to the fact that women had their hands linked.

The last picture was what the author called an undeniable proof that there were deep feelings between Shepard and T'Soni. It was the picture of asari taken during Shepard's symbolic funeral. The look on the alien's face was the look Gallardi saw many times before on the faces of various Imperial citizens whose world was attacked by either alien or heretic forces. While these citizens managed to survive, they lost someone very close to them to the enemy. Those people bore devastated expressions as if part of their souls died with their loved ones. August didn't know if the aliens like asari could feel emotions like humans did, but if they did then this T'Soni woman cared about Shepard very much.

Gallardi closed his terminal once again and sighed deeply. The human centric organization was against the law and one of the Mankind's greatest heroes probably had an alien consort. It was as if the Gallardi's world was turned inside out. The black suddenly became white, right became wrong and up became down. August suddenly remembered as ever-optimistic Jocasta said once that the Emperor had a great sense of humor. If that was the truth, Gallardi was sure that somewhere far away an impossibly bright and benevolent person that sat upon the Golden Throne was smiling slightly at Gallardi's expense.

August felt that he needed to clear his mind a little. He took his saber and decided to head to the training room for some practice. Fencing always helped him to set his thoughts straight.

* * *

><p>Miranda wiped out another sentence from her report. For the first time in her career as a Cerberus agent, she was having trouble trying to compose a simple account. The first part about the Overlord cell was easy. She just recited everything she saw and heard from Shepard at the debriefing. Miranda clearly stated her disapproval of what was done to David. She knew that the Illusive Man didn't care about the ethical side of the experiment and that was why Miranda used the scientific approach to state her position on the matter, claiming that it was the Dr Archer's incompetence and brutal treatment that caused such a disaster. Miranda knew that her boss would probably rant about how she allowed Shepard to take a valuable asset from Cerberus and turn it over to the Alliance, but strange as it was, Miranda felt that she didn't care. If he started questioning her motive for not stopping Shepard, Miranda had already decided that she would say that in his current state David would be more of a hindrance than an asset to Cerberus and that they should at least allow the Alliance to treat him. Cerberus owed him at least that seeing as David was not on their payroll; his incompetent brother had dragged him into this.<p>

The second part proved to be an incredible challenge. The sudden arrival of the two guests from a different dimension was not something Miranda was used to reporting on. All this talk of time and dimensional travel, daemons and space orks sounded like some sort of bad sci-fi novel from the mid twentieth or early twenty first centuries. The only reason she gave the newcomers the benefit of the doubt that they were not a pair of loons that run away from a circus were the schematics of the weapons Jacob had shown her. Miranda was not a leading expert in weaponry but she could clearly see that this 'Hotshot Lasgun' was far more advanced than their current laser weaponry. It was like comparing flintlock rifle to a mass accelerator weapons. Even such trivial thing as the weapon's powerpack was beyond them; it had the capacity of a dozen cars' accumulators. As for the plasma pistol... the only race who had plasma technology were the geth and Cerberus was furiously trying to reverse engineer that tech, so far with limited success. Maybe the schematics from this human-made weapon would allow them to make a breakthrough.

The power sword was simply bizarre. At this moment, melee weapons were mostly ceremonial in both the Systems Alliance and the majority of the alien races. Only krogan used them in combat because they were the only ones able to survive the time needed to close the distance. Even then, they mostly used their hands and heads. However, this sword was not ceremonial. Out of sheer curiosity, Jacob had decided to test it on a metal crate. He struck the crate slightly and almost sheared it in half, which scared Jacob enough not to try anything with the potent weapon without proper training. Kasumi made some obscure reference to some old sci-fi movie and told Jacob next time to 'Use the Force' or something like that.

Such technologies were the only proof Miranda could add to her report that would make it believable. Yet now Miranda found that she was reluctant to give something to Cerberus, after what she saw on Aite. Contrary to what she made everyone believe about her, she was not a die-hard Cerberus supporter. Back in the past, she was reluctant to join Cerberus because of its activities, but it was the only way she could protect her sister Oriana from her egomaniacal father. True, it was Cerberus who funded this whole operation and brought Shepard back from the dead, but these two projects were the most uncharacteristic things Cerberus did. Most of the time it was exactly what the rumors said about Cerberus: illegal experiments, assassination etc.

Miranda didn't buy the Illusive Man's rhetoric that the fate of all those colonists in the Terminus Systems depended on Cerberus actions for she knew that he didn't care about them one bit. Miranda's boss was a calculating man; he didn't do things out of the goodness of his heart. All of this: Shepard, the Normandy, the crew - it was all an investment. The Illusive Man expected something to be gained from Collectors; they were one of the most advanced races in the Galaxy after all. Whatever they will be able to get from the Collectors will give humanity the edge against the other alien races.

"_No. Not Humanity. Cerberus will have that edge,_" Miranda thought to herself. And by giving them these weapon schematics, she was making Cerberus even stronger. Then again, Shepard said she would send the schematics to the Systems Alliance right after she got a visual confirmation that the weapons worked. And since the Alliance was riddled with Cerberus spies, it was only a mater of time Cerberus gets their hands on those technologies. Miranda decided to use the lasgun schematics as a proof of her report, so that the Illusive Man would take it seriously and wouldn't assume that one of his top operatives suddenly went insane, probably because of some genetic flaw her father might have overlooked during her creation.

Finally done with her frustrating report, Miranda stretched her back from long sitting. She heard slight growling in her stomach and looked at her timepiece to see how far it is for dinner. Seeing that it will not start in another hour or so, Miranda decided to grab some energy bars from Gardner. Her father thought that he made her perfect but she had her flaws just like anyone else. The drawback of her refined biotics was her ravenous appetite. People usually thought her to be a 'salad person' and the look on their faces after seeing her wolfing down entire steaks were sometimes priceless.

However, before she managed to stand up, her terminal chimed, informing her that Shepard wished to speak with her.

"Yes, Commander?" Miranda answered the call.

"Miranda, I just wanted to inform you that we're at the rendezvous point with the Academy's transport. We'll transfer David soon," Shepard told her from her cabin. "I thought you'd wanted to know."

"Thank you Shepard. I'll see you in the cargo hold." Miranda replied.

"Right. See you there." Shepard said as she ended the conversation.

Miranda knew she really didn't have to be present during David's transfer but she thought she needed to see him once again. To remind herself of the line she should never cross.

She walked out of her office and headed towards the elevator. The first thing she noticed was the retreating form of Captain Gallardi who too was walking towards the same destination. Miranda increased her pace slightly and caught up with him near the entrance.

"Captain," she greeted him nodding slightly. She noticed that he was carrying his saber with him.

"Officer Lawson," the man nodded in return. The door to the elevator opened and they both entered. "You're going up or down?"

"Down to the cargo hold," Miranda replied. She saw him nod and press the fourth level key on the interface. The lift started to move.

After a moment of silence, Miranda asked Gallardi: "If you don't mind me asking, why you have a saber with you?"

The man turned and looked down her. Miranda was a tall woman, almost reaching one meter ninety centimeters when she was wearing her high heels. She rarely needed to look up while talking to someone. Yet Gallardi was still a good fifteen centimeters taller than she was. For a moment, Miranda felt as if she was a teenager talking to an adult.

"I want to practice a little. Helps me to clear my thoughts," Gallardi replied.

"I see. All this must be a lot to take in," Miranda nodded in return.

"Yes and the Extranet didn't help much," the man said thoughtfully.

Miranda studied him a little. "Let me guess about what has unnerved you the most. The asari?"

Gallardi looked at her and nodded.

"We figured that it would." Miranda continued. "You came from a place where the only thing you do with aliens is fight them. And here... I guess you saw enough already."

"That I did," the Captain replied with a slight edge in his voice. "How common are such... relations between humans and asari?"

"Common enough. You probably read that they encourage their own species to mate with other species?" Miranda asked and saw Gallardi nod in response. "They also look down a little upon pureblood asari. Something about wasted genetic potential. But still, they have their own standards of beauty and when the humans showed up with only slight morphological differences, let's just say the majority of the asari were delighted to see us."

"And the humans were not disgusted by this?" Gallardi asked her.

"Some were. But on the other hand, the asari are an all female alien race of blue skinned ageless beauties that are very open in their sensuality." Miranda replied. "At the beginning of the space exploration age it was probably teenage dreams come true."

"Your teenagers have extremely weird dreams then," Gallardi shook his head. "Tell me something; are these asari capable of controlling people's minds?"

Miranda chuckled. "Oh I am sure some of women really like to believe that. Especially those who were dumped by their husbands for some asari stripper. But no, the asari have no means of directly controlling someone's behavior. If a man or a woman falls for an asari's charms it's their own fault for not being able to resist their own urges. Or it's simply genuine affection."

"I see," Gallardi said thoughtfully.

The elevator's door opened and they both walked out. Miranda headed towards Shepard, who was standing near David's life support capsule.

* * *

><p>Shepard was standing near the capsule when she heard the elevator's door open. She looked over her shoulder expecting to see Miranda and was a little surprised to see both her XO and Captain Gallardi walking out. The man was carrying his saber and turned to walk towards the gym when he caught sight of Victoria and the capsule near her and started to approach slowly. Victoria nodded to both him and Miranda when they stopped on each of her sides.<p>

"Captain," Shepard greeted him. "How's the translator implant treating you?" She asked him regarding his operation yesterday.

Gallardi rubbed his temple slightly where the implant now was. "It took some time getting used to, but I already managed to understand the turian when you were talking to each other in the morning."

"Excellent, try to spend more time around him and Mordin, you'll get over it in no time," Victoria encouraged him.

"Will do," the Captain said and motioned towards David. "Is he one of your crew? What happened to him?"

"No, David was not part of our team," Victoria replied shaking her head. "He... was used as part of an experiment and it left him crippled."

"What sort of experiment?" Gallardi asked her.

Shepard gave him the short version of what transpired on Aite. She had to explain a little about the Geth since he was not familiar with them. Gallardi looked thoughtful about the information.

"You say he didn't volunteer for this?" He asked Shepard. "Why he was used then? Was he guilty of some crime?"

"Crime? His only crime was being born with a rare physical condition that allowed him to remember things with perfect clarity." Shepard retorted slightly. "He didn't volunteer; he was volunteered by his own brother because 'he had no choice'_._"

"Sometimes sacrifices must me made to ensure Mankind's survival." Gallardi told her.

"Oh, I agree. Sacrifices must be made but they must be willing," Victoria replied firmly. "Not like this. People like us took vows to fight and die if needed to protect others. David didn't take any vows. He was dragged into this because he trusted his brother."

"True," Gallardi said and nodded. They stood silently for a moment when Miranda suddenly broke the silence.

"Captain, you asked if David committed some sort of crime. Why? Does the Imperium conduct experiments on its convicts."

"I don't know about experiments, though I would not put it past the Inquisition to do something like that." Gallardi replied, slightly rubbing his chin. "But all those plug-ins on David reminded me of the punishment used by the Imperium, or to be more accurate by the Martian tech-priesthood: _Servitude Imperpituis. _It's when a man or a woman who made some serious transgression, particularly against the Mechanicus' members or property, is rendered into a servitor."

Shepard looked at Gallardi apprehensively. "Something tells me I would not like what I'm going to hear but what is a servitor?"

"Servitors are mindless cybernetic drones used to perform simple menial tasks. They are partially human, partially machines," the Captain explained.

Victoria's blood ran cold. "That's horrible! Why would you do such a thing to your people? What sort of crime can warrant that?"

Gallardi shrugged. "Most of the servitors were not exactly 'people' in the first place. I too once thought that they were but one Magos explained to me that the majority of the servitors are made from mindless vat-grown sub-human clones. Others were, as I said, criminals. The Mechanicus Cult's laws are pretty simple: for lighter crimes, you either work overtime or you're sent to the labor gangs to perform heavier duties. The punishment for more severe crimes will turn you into a servitor. The Mechanicus does not believe in imprisonment, they consider it a waste of resources. They also rarely use execution, once again because they consider it a waste. The criminal can still serve the Machine God as a servitor."

"And you allow this 'Mechanicus Cult' to do this?" Shepard asked in disbelief.

"The Mechanicus is granted autonomy in this." Gallardi answered evenly and looked at Victoria. "Don't feel pity for such people Commander. They deserve what that they get. On other worlds, they would be either sent into penal legion or executed by firing squad. Or burned at a stake."

"Don't tell me you still burn people at stakes?" Miranda asked incredulously.

Gallardi shrugged once again. "On cardinal worlds, those that are controlled by the Church? Yes, they do. The Ministorum adepts believe that the flame can purify the soul from its sins."

Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose as she pondered the information. "Is this the future that awaits us? What use is all our fighting if in the end we became just as ruthless and brutal as our enemies?" Victoria said and sighed deeply. "Not the future I'd wish for my descendants."

The Captain looked at her curiously slightly narrowing his eyes. Then turned again to look at David's pod.

"Don't paint everything in the same color Commander. There are a lot of good things about the Imperium."

"I have yet to hear one," Victoria said with slight sarcasm.

"Do you really think I serve the Emperor only for the sake of serving? Just because I was told to? Yes, the life is hard in the Imperium, its laws are severe. But they are needed to ensure the Mankind survival among the stars." Gallardi said with a slight edge in his voice. "But there are other things that are worth protecting. Sometimes when doubts about my duty manifest themselves, I, for once, start to remember Harakon, my home. I remember about the carnival during the summer solstice. How the huge paper vapor wyrms are dragged through the streets of the hive city to the delight of the children and then they are sent flying from the edges of the city. How the hundreds of grav-gliders of every color and configuration soar in the sky during the annual races. How the young girls wear azure ribbons in their hair and by the end of the day they send them to the winds in a millennia old tradition so that those ribbons may reach other hive cities and maybe some young man on the other side will catch it and the pair will meet each other one day."

Gallardi closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I know that as a Guardsman I will never see the Harakon again. However, those memories remind me why I have to fight as hard as I can. So that others don't have to do it. So that children would see another carnival and grav-glider race. And those girls actually had a chance to meet their other half and live a more peaceful life than mine."

"The people back home sleep peacefully because we are ready to do violence on their behalf," Victoria said as she remembered the words of her N Special Forces drill instructor.

"Precisely," Gallardi nodded.

"Thank you for telling me this Captain," Shepard told him. "I didn't mean to judge you or the Imperium in any way and I hope you didn't take offense."

"None taken," the Captain replied his voice a little softer this time. "I know how hard it can be to see the bigger picture behind the pile of corpses."

"I guess we all agree on that." Miranda murmured from her side.

The internal PA crackled and Joker announced loudly. "Commander, the academy's shuttle is on final approach. ETA 5 minutes."

"Thank you Joker." Victoria replied and decided to change the subject with Gallardi. "So Captain, how goes your acquaintance with the Extranet?"

Gallardi looked at her and then sighed deeply.

"Wow, that bad, huh?" Shepard smirked. "Well, my only advice is to, as we marines say, improvise, adapt and overcome."

The Captain suddenly looked turned sharply and looked at Victoria.

"What?" Shepard asked seeing the look of surprise on his face.

"Improvise, adapt and overcome is one of the mottoes of grav-chute drop troopers." Gallardi replied.

"No way!" Victoria said and smiled. Before she thought about it, she subconsciously moved her hand to make a brofist. She almost squealed when she saw Gallardi doing the same. When their knuckles connected, Shepard announced.

"Systems Alliance Marine Corps. _Semper Fidelis_."

Gallardi smiled slightly and replied: "Harakoni Warhawks. _Desuper Mortis_."

"Hoorah!" Both Victoria and Gallardi shouted in unison and immediately started to laugh.

"What are the chances of that?" Shepard asked.

"I have no idea Commander. I guess some things are beyond time and space," the Captain replied.

"_Desuper Mortis. _It means 'death from above', correct?" Victoria queried. She saw the same inscription on one of the Alliances gunships back in the time.

"Correct..." Gallardi began but was interrupted by the sound of siren.

"Cargo bay's door opening. Please stand by." EDI announced through the PA.

The shimmering barrier that protected the Cargo bay from depressurizing activated and the immense hatch started to lower itself.

"I think it is best that you be on your way, Captain." Shepard told Gallardi. "I don't want to spook the doctors too much by your presence, saber and all."

Gallardi nodded and motioned towards David's pod. "Do you need any help?"

"No, we've got this covered." Victoria said and shook her head.

The Captain nodded and went to the ship's gym. Shepard turned to look at the incoming shuttle as it entered the cargo bay and started to land.

She looked at Miranda.

"Right, let's get this over with."

* * *

><p>Maeteris felt useless. Useless, for she no longer could fulfill her role given to her by her title of Farseer. Because of the silence in the Warp, it was almost impossible to divine the future; the Warp's nature meant that time was meaningless in that dimension. Therefore, glimpses of the future, past and the present were all in the same place. All that was needed for a seer to do was to pick the right pieces and divine the truth from the lies. One could say that the process was similar to trying to hear a particular voice from a crowded plaza.<p>

Now it was almost silent. Only the slight whispers could be heard here and there but Maeteris didn't want to risk approaching them. Although the Warp has now been largely devoid of the predators it usually hosted, the eldar didn't let her guard down; her people knew all too well that there were some things worse than daemons lurking in the pits of the Empyrean, different, but equally foul.

Still, some things made sense to her. Mainly the story about Reapers who, as the ship mistress Shepard claimed, cleansed the Galaxy every 50 000 human years. It explained the current state of the Warp. The Warp was shaped by emotions of living beings and if every sapient being was culled at regular cycle, the Warp itself was, for the lack of a better term, 'reset' back to its pristine form until a new race evolved enough to feel any kind of emotion.

There was another thing about the Warp that bothered Maeteris greatly. Because the eldar never ascended or never existed, in the first place that meant another thing. The Fall never actually happened and it meant that She Who Thirsts was never born to this world. The prospect of such thing both excited and scared Maeteris. It meant that she might no longer need to strictly follow the tenets of her Path and maybe she could savor some simple joys of life. Like fruit. Maeteris liked fruit. They were a rare commodity on the Craftworld, carefully gathered and preserved from a few remaining gardens and shared on rare occasions like a celebration of the choice of the Path. Something that could happen only once in a lifetime.

The Farseer sighed and shook her head. As tempting as such thoughts were she decided not let her guard down. For a time at least.

There was another way to foresee the future events. A Seer could attune themselves to an individual or a group of individuals and grasp their possible fates. It was less effective because it showed only the closest future: a couple of days, at the most a score. Mainly it depended on how much in harmony the Farseer was with those she tried to attune herself to. With other eldar, it was easy. With Mon-Keigh, it was extremely hard but not impossible as with the orks. Maeteris decided to give it a try.

She started to control her breathing, gradually slowing it down. Then she reached out to the souls around the ship. Already she was more accustomed for the 'controlled chaos' of the humans' thoughts. They were chaotic because humans always seem to be doing two things at a time: they were performing some sort of physical labor while thinking about something else entirely. By eldar logic all Mon-Keigh were insane: how can one perform his duty without focusing on it both physically and mentally? Yet somehow, humans managed to do it - the ship was running rather smoothly, for a Mon-Keigh ship of course. And all this despite the engineers bantering nonstop about things completely unconnected with ship maintenance. The ship's navigation was rather sound despite the vessel's pilot either bickering with the ship's spirit or once again entertaining the carnal fantasies in his head. True to her word, the ship mistress reprimanded him about his activities. The pilot has remained silent since then... for almost six hours. Then his disgusting thoughts returned only this time he fantasized not about blue-skinned aliens called asari but about human females with extremely long ears that probably were the grotesque mockery of the eldar.

However, there was one thing that united all present on the ship, save for the Imperial, August Gallardi, and Maeteris herself. Shepard. Everyone on the ship looked up to her in some way. It was either grudging respect or blissful adoration. Everyone believed that if their mission was to succeed it would be Shepard who would guarantee their victory. Even though her spirit was rather dull by comparison with the eldar, she was a flaming torch next to everyone else. The closest one to her potential was the Imperial, although his soul was the maelstrom of doubt and confusion at the moment.

Therefore, Maeteris decided to focus on Shepard and see what her immediate future holds. The Farseer peered closer, finding the Shepard's lifeline in the Warp and started to follow its possible course. At first, there was nothing but soon blurry images started to fill Maeteris' head.

A ship filled with hate. No, not just ship. A prison floating in the void.

Turian warden. Greed. Betrayal.

A young human with tattooed skin locked in ice.

Thunder, fire and death. Fury and fear in disharmonious balance.

Maeteris inhaled deeply as she stopped her divination. The images she saw were blurry but the eldar smiled nonetheless. She could use her runes to help her concentrate and make her divinations more clear. Then she could...

Maeteris suddenly stopped. Instinctively her mind had gone on to how she could manipulate the lesser races to protect the Craftworld. Now there wasn't one. What would she do with that knowledge? Give it to humans and other races? Help them survive the coming conflict with the Reapers? Part of Maeteris rebelled against such actions. Why should she care whether the lesser ones live or die? However, another part asked: are you willing to let them die and become truly alone in the Galaxy? Maybe you should hide in some dark corner from those Reapers while the so-called lesser races actually have the courage to stand and fight. That would be a fitting image for a proud daughter of Ulthwe.

Maeteris sighed. Whether she admitted it or not she was now part of a greater community. By her actions, her kin would be judged and the Farseer was intent on making everyone not think of the eldar as a race of egoistic cowards. She would assist the lesser races and everyone would know exactly why it was the eldar who once ruled the Galaxy.

At last filled with some sort of purpose, Maeteris rose from her kneeling position and moved to where her armor was standing. She took the pouches with her runes and was about to return to her divinations when something caught her eye. The boots of her armor were covered in mud. Usually Maeteris cleaned her armor when she returned to the Craftworld. However, since that was no longer an option, she probably would have to use the humans' cleaning facilities. That meant she would have to leave her cabin and walk through the ship with all the humans staring at her.

For a moment, she was tempted to use her powers to simply render the dirt into molecular dust. But of course, it was against the regulations of the Path. The Seer could not use his or her psychic powers to perform simple menial tasks. In fact, those menial tasks were actually encouraged by the Path. Maeteris sighed. She knew she would have to leave her room eventually but the eldar really hoped it would be later rather than sooner. The least she could do is leave during the ship's night cycle when the majority of the crew were asleep.

* * *

><p><em>One hour after the beginning of the night shift...<em>

Dr Chakwas covered her mouth as she yawned extensively. She stayed late at Med Bay because of the Captain Gallardi's cybernetics, or 'augmetics' as he called them. Mordin was still working on them but his preliminary scans had already produced something remarkable. It seemed that the power source for those implants was, in fact, Gallardi's own body. Mordin was positively excited by this for even in such advanced times as now such technology was almost a myth. Commander Shepard's implants used extremely small power generators that were supposed to work for at least a dozen years before she will need to replace them. Gallardi's would work as long as his own body provided the energy.

Chakwas smiled. Once again, the Imperial technology managed to surprise the crew of the Normandy - while it was crude and unassuming on the outside it was extremely advanced on the inside.

Yawning once again and rubbing her eyes, the doctor decided that it was enough for today and that she needed her beauty sleep. However, when she rose from her desk she saw a very strange vision - the eldar woman dressed in a skintight suit and some sort sleeveless overcoat or a tabard walked outside of the Med Bay's windows carrying a pair of ornate boots. She seemed to be heading towards the women's restroom.

The presence of a previously unknown alien on the ship posed a significant risk towards the other members of the crew. The usual procedure during such occurrences was to hold one of the species in a quarantine until it was resolved that different species held no biological risks towards each other. Yet here the eldar was, walking towards the hygienic facilities with only God knows what sort of biochemistry.

Dr Chakwas was not going to have it. She followed the eldar out of the Med Bay.

* * *

><p>Maeteris was washing the soles of her boots in the sink of the women's restroom. She knew it was women's because she felt the female crewmembers enter it regularly. The restroom was purely functional without any grace the similar eldar facility would have. Still, the smell was bearable, it was clean and that was enough for the Farseer. She was glad that only one of the humans saw her on her way here and Maeteris hoped that her brief excursion would go unnoticed.<p>

Alas it was not so. Maeteris felt the said human approach the doors to the restroom. The doors swooshed open revealing the older human female with a stern expression on her face.

"Miss Maeteris I presume?" The woman asked in a slightly voice. "Greetings, I'm Doctor Madeline Chakwas. I'm the Normandy's chief medical officer."

Maeteris remained silent for a moment, continuing to wash her boot. Then she turned slightly towards the human a slightly nodded.

"I greet you," was all she said and continued to wash her boots.

The human doctor crossed her arms and continued. "I see you're very diligent with the state of your equipment and you like to keep it clean. I wonder if you wish to help me do the same with the ship and the crew."

"What do you mean?" Maeteris asked evenly. She could read the human's mind but decided to let human explain herself.

"I'm talking about the crew's health and the possible danger your presence you might pose," the doctor replied and made several steps closer to the eldar. "We have never contacted the eldar before. You might carry diseases that may be fatal to humans or other aliens present on the ship."

Maeteris looked at the woman sharply. "I am not contagious, nor do I carry any diseases."

"Are you a doctor to state something like that?" Dr Chakwas asked her.

"I am that and much more," the Farseer stated. She finally finished cleaning her boots and turned to leave but found the human blocking her way. "Allow me to pass."

"You may be a doctor but I am this ship's chief medical officer," the human stated sternly. "The well-being of the ship's crew is my responsibility."

Maeteris tried to circumvent the human but the doctor would not desist.

"I do not seek conflict," Maeteris told Dr Chakwas with just a slight edge in her voice. "Please, step away."

"No," the doctor replied. "I ask that you come with me and allow me to perform a quick decontamination and the simplest analysis. There no need to be so stubborn about it, young lady."

Maeteris narrowed her eyes slightly. "Young? When I was young your kin probably still thought your planet was a flat disk!"

The human's eyes widened at this information, but the doctor quickly got a hold of herself.

"You know, for someone in such distinguished age you sure act exactly like my fourteen year old niece," the doctor added quietly. "I'm not asking you to do anything life-threatening but if you do not cooperate I will raise this issue with Commander Shepard. Trust me; she values my judgment on such things."

Maeteris looked at the human. She can make this Mon-Keigh forget this exchange ever happened. She can force her to think that Maeteris actually agreed to her demands and the doctor would never bother her. However, it would create a needless conflict between the eldar and the ship's crew, should the truth somehow surface itself later. She brushed with her mind against the doctor's mind: the human was curious about the eldar biology but mostly she was simply very protective about the crew.

Maeteris sighed.

"I see that you leave me no choice. I promised your ship mistress that I will not harm her crew and I intend to keep that promise. I agree to your demands because I know you will not desist."

The doctor actually smiled warmly. "Now I finally hear the wisdom of age from you. Though you don't have to be so dramatic about it. I'm not some mad scientist who wishes to dissect you"

She motioned towards the exit. "Follow me please. Trust me this will only take a few minutes."

_Twenty minutes later..._

The human doctor was true to her word. Both decontamination and the medical scan were quickly over and actually were completely noninvasive. Maeteris actually felt a little stupid for making such a fuss about it.

"Thank you for your time, miss Maeteris. I sincerely hope I did not cause too much discomfort, but I hope you understand my reasoning," Dr Chakwas told the eldar from her desk.

"I do." Maeteris replied evenly.

"Before you leave, I hope it is not very rude of me to ask, but you really peaked my interest," the human continued. "Just how old are you?"

"I entered my sixteenth cycle not long ago." Maeteris replied and seeing the confused look on the doctor's face, elaborated. "In your human years I would be somewhere around 1500."

"Oh," Dr Chakwas said looking slightly awed. "How long is the average eldar lifespan?"

"The average eldar lives almost a 1000 years. The potent psykers like I might live far longer. The oldest one I knew was the Farseer Eldrad - he lived for over ten thousand years."

"Fascinating, that's longer than the history of recorded human civilization," Dr Chakwas mumbled. She looked thoughtful for a moment and then added. "And you were right. 1500 years ago we indeed believed that the world was a flat disc."

Maeteris nodded slightly.

"Right, I shall not keep you any longer miss Maeteris. It was a pleasure meeting you," the human added and turned to her desk.

Maeteris left the Med bay and quickly slipped into her cabin without further incidents. With her armor clean, she could finally focus on the divination ritual. While laying down her runes she pondered on how she should present the knowledge of the future to humans. Simply giving the insight into future events would be wrong - they will simply become too reliant on such information and in the end it will make them weaker not stronger. The Farseer knew that the Imperials would have been too distrustful to her divinations. However, except for Captain Gallardi, the majority of these humans were a little more open minded and that was something Maeteris could work with.

A plan was beginning to form in the eldar's mind.

* * *

><p><em>AN: For those of you who are not fluent in Latin and High Gothic: Lex Imperialis means "Law of the Imperium" in High Gothic, Semper Fidelis is an official motto of the United States Marine Corps and means "Always Faithful" in Latin._


	6. Purge of Purgatory

_Author's Note: Once again I want to thank you all for your reviews and favs. Also, thank you anonymous reviewers. It is good to know that you follow this story._

_In this chapter we're finally going to see some action. I hope you're not going to be disappointed._

_I also found this cool Warhammer Christmas postcard. Enjoy ;)_

_http:/ /odh1nn (dot) deviantart (dot) com / gallery / 30925669# / d4cp6n6_

_Let's roll._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Purge of Purgatory.<strong>

"So how does it feel?" Jacob asked as he watched Gallardi running around the cargo hold and getting accustomed to his new armor.

August stopped and flexed his hands.

"A little heavier than the usual field gear I carry," Gallardi said and took off his helmet. "But it's much lighter and more comfortable than the thermal gear we wear during sub-orbital drops. The drop troopers are trained to fight in those for prolonged periods until there's an opportunity to change into field equipment."

"Maybe we can lose several pieces of armor or use more light variants of our own?" Jacob offered.

"No. I think we have the best solution. I'm not exactly a small target so it's better to have extra protection," August shook his head. "Thank you, Taylor, you did an excellent job."

"Don't mention it, Captain. You'll need to return the armor to me so I can check the insulation one last time," Jacob replied and moved towards the elevator. "How's the recharge station doing?"

"Excellent. All the powerpacks are now fully charged," Gallardi answered. They both entered the elevator and started to ascend towards the Combat Deck.

"Good. The Commander said she wanted to record the weapon in action. Probably during the next deployment."

As both men entered the armory and Gallardi started to change back into his uniform, he asked Jacob.

"Do you have any information on when the next deployment is going to happen?"

"Eager for action, sir?" Jacob smirked.

"As a matter of fact, yes I am," Gallardi said as he passed the armor pieces to the Armory Chief. "There has been a lot on my mind recently and I am eager to do something that involves less thinking and more shooting."

"I hear that. Sorry to disappoint you, but Shepard didn't..." Jacob began but was interrupted by the ships PA.

"This Shepard speaking. All ground teams please report to the Comm. room for briefing. Captain Gallardi, you are now also part of the ground team. I'll meet you all in five minutes."

"Well I guess your prayers have been answered," Jacob smirked once again.

* * *

><p>Victoria entered the Comm. room and saw that Gallardi, Jacob and Mordin were already there. She immediately turned towards the salarian.<p>

"Sorry Professor, I should have told you earlier. I'm not going to take full complement on this, and your work on the countermeasure is too important right now. You are free to return to your research."

"Of course Shepard," Mordin nodded and moved towards the exit. "Will be in my lab if you need me."

Shepard nodded back and turned towards the two remaining people.

"Captain, are you ready for the next assignment?" Victoria asked as she took her seat at the head of the table.

"Officer Taylor said he needed to make some last checks. Other than that I'm eager and able," Gallardi replied. While Jacob took his usual seat, the Captain remained and shook her head.

"Gallardi please take a seat, there's no need to be so strict with military protocol. As I said we're roughly of the same rank so I'm going to treat you as equal and expect the same from you. So, at ease."

"Fair enough," Gallardi relaxed visibly and took a seat near Jacob but leaving one empty seat between them. "_Probably thinks it's reserved for Kasumi,_" Shepard thought to herself.

The door to Comm. room opened and the remaining members of the ground team slipped inside. Miranda and Garrus took their usual places on Victoria's left and right. Kasumi materialized on her chair between Jacob and Gallardi, slightly startling both. Zaeed took a place on the far side of the table.

"Alright people. Mordin is busy with his research so we're doing this without him," Shepard declared and leaned forward. "Since there's no intel about the Collectors' movements at this moment, we continue to gather our team. The closest one will be on the prison ship Purgatory, which is only one jump away. We're looking for someone dubbed Subject Zero or Jack, who is reported to be the most powerful human biotic ever encountered."

"And let me guess," Garrus said from his seat. "She's a prisoner and we're going to help her escape? Guns blazing and all that?"

"No actually, Cerberus is paying for Jack's release," Miranda replied. "All we need is simply dock and make the pickup."

Both Shepard and Garrus snorted at the word pickup. What surprised Victoria is that Gallardi made similar noises as if he shared the sentiment. Miranda looked puzzled at their reaction.

"What did I say?" The woman asked.

"You jinxed it Lawson. You said 'simple' and pickup in one sentence. It means this is definitely going to long and bloody op." Garrus elaborated. "When I was working in C-Sec, me and my partner were sent to 'simply pick up' for questioning one volus trader whom we suspected of illegal Prothean artifact smuggling. We actually didn't have anything on him, and we really just wanted to ask a few questions. But when the guy saw us he thought we were onto him and freaked out. Barricaded his estate and siced his mercs on us. The simple pickup turned into four hour siege with SWAT teams, snipers and a couple of APCs."

There were chuckles around the table except from Miranda who looked annoyed at the turian's to addition her part.

"_It's going to be a simple, quiet pickup_ - that was what Anderson told me before the mission on Eden Prime," Shepard said and smiled. "And you all know how _that_ turned out."

More laughter but Miranda was now looking disapprovingly at Victoria. She was about to say something only to be interrupted by Gallardi's voice.

"So with our luck that I guess the prison ship is doomed," the Captain said as he fiddled with his mechanical arm.

"You have a similar story, Captain?" Shepard asked him.

The man's face twitched for a moment, as if the memories were not pleasant. Then, he quietly began.

"Agriworld Sataria. It was mostly overrun by the tyranids. Our orders were to deploy deeply behind the enemy lines and extract the Inquisitor and his retinue who had "valuable intelligence", Gallardi spoke and made air quotes when he mentioned the intel. "Command said - simple pickup, Captain. Get in, get out. Minimal contact with the enemy. As if we had a choice. Of the 1500 men that went in only me, the battered Inquisitor's team and four Valkyrie transports with crews made it out."

The room was silent for a moment.

"What were the tyranids' numbers?" Miranda asked.

"_She probably thinks that Gallardi is incompetent commander if he managed to lose his whole unit._" Victoria thought to herself.

The Captain looked at Cerberus operative. "You mean on the whole planet or in the immediate operational area?" He asked and continued before Miranda managed to elaborate. "There were billions of tyranids on the planet. Thousands were in the immediate proximity."

"Sorry to hear that Captain," Victoria said.

Gallardi shrugged slightly. "We gave a good account of ourselves and the mission was a success. The Space Marines would have handled it better but there were none around at the time. All other units would have failed because they were not as experienced in mobile warfare as the Harakoni. So ultimately my men's sacrifice was not in vain."

"Hard to see the bigger picture behind the pile of corpses..." Victoria added silently.

The Captain nodded, but then shook his slightly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to kill the mood, but I think we can agree that when someone mentions 'simple pickup', thing are going to get frakked."

"Hear, hear," Shepard agreed.

Miranda was still not convinced. "Commander, I know you are always prepared for the worst but I can assure you that the money Cerberus is paying for Subject Zero's release are substantial. I don't think the Blue Suns would risk such an opportunity."

"After Omega, all I can be sure of is that any operation involving the Blue Suns will not end peacefully and this one is not an exception." Shepard contradicted.

"Indeed it is not." The door to the room opened and revealed the eldar, Maeteris, standing in the corridor. Slightly confused, Kelly was standing behind her. The redhead was about to say something but Maeteris stopped her with the wave of her hand.

"Someone has posted a bounty on you, Commander Shepard," the Farseer began without preamble. "The barefaced warden of this prison intends to collect it. He is laying a trap for you and thinks himself a great hunter. He is not, for he is too blinded by greed to plan properly. Spring his trap; it will actually expedite your way inside. Once you reach your objective, the one you seek to retrieve will provide the exit. How you secure this woman's allegiance is up to you, but I advise to be straightforward and show strength. Those are the only things she values."

With that, the eldar turned gracefully and moved down the corridor leaving a room in total confusion. Kelly remained standing with an expression of total awe but she managed to be the first one to say something.

"Wow!" Was all she managed and after a minute trotted after Maeteris.

"I suppose... That was some sort of prophesy?" Shepard asked looking at Gallardi.

The Captain rubbed his chin. "I guess. She is a Farseer after all."

"You mean this is not just a fancy title, she can actually predict the future events?" Miranda asked the man, her interest clearly piqued. "How accurate can those predictions be?"

"Even the human psykers sometimes receive visions of the future, although it's usually very vague," Gallardi replied. "The information in the Ordo Xenos archives stated that eldar Seers are more experienced in such things. The Farseers are the most powerful of the eldar Seers; they are usually the leaders of the eldar race. So we can guess that her divinations can be pretty accurate."

"Can we even trust her?" Zaeed's gruff voice came from the other side of the table. "I mean the girl doesn't seem that friendly."

"She's not a girl Zaeed," Shepard told him. "Dr Chakwas told me this morning that she's fifteen centuries old."

There were whistles from Zaeed and Jacob and the surprised looks from everyone else except Gallardi.

"I'd say she looks good for someone that old," the old mercenary remarked. Gallardi looked at him and groaned.

"As for trusting her?" Victoria continued. "I believe yes. We spoke a little and I believe she does not want cause us harm."

Gallardi scratched his short cropped scalp and said. "I want to remind you that eldar are also adept at manipulating others."

"Yet you said it yourself that she has little reason for doing so now," Shepard reminded him. "Besides, she warned us about the trap we all were suspicious of and still were intent on walking into."

"True," the Captain nodded. "In that case my advice will be to remain on our guard."

"Good. Let's get to the tactics. It's a ship so that means confined spaces. The four man team will go, including me," Victoria continued. She looked at Miranda. "Miranda, you'll be our Cerberus representative so that the Blue Suns might be less suspicious."

"Very well, Commander," the brunette nodded.

"The other two will be Gallardi and Garrus," Victoria declared and looked at the Imperial. She deliberately included at least one alien in the team to see if Gallardi could indeed work with non-humans. Good soldier or not, if he couldn't fight as part of one unit than he was a liability.

To his credit, Gallardi didn't show any outward sign of hostility. He looked briefly at Garrus and nodded back to Victoria.

"Jacob. You, Kasumi and Zaeed are the second team, you're in charge," Shepard continued. "If, or rather when, the shit hits the fan, the Blue Suns will most likely try to storm the Normandy. Your orders are to repel any boarders. No one, unless it's us, should be allowed to enter the ship."

"Aye, aye Commander." Jacob replied.

"That settles it then," Victoria finished and looked at the far end of the table. "EDI? What's the ETA to Purgatory?"

EDI's blue ball popped up. "We are on the final approach to the mass relay. Approximate time required to dock with the prison ship - two hours and thirty minutes."

"Excellent. You have your orders. Check your equipment people, and see you at the airlock. Any questions?" Shepard looked around the table and heard only negatives. "Good. Everyone dismissed."

Everyone stood up and started to file out of the Comm. towards the elevator intent on asking the eldar Farseer a few questions. However before she managed to enter the lift, cheerful Kelly's voice stopped her.

"Commander! Are you going to see the Farseer?" The yeoman asked her. The young woman's face was radiating the excitement.

"Yes, how did you..." Shepard asked her, clearly surprised.

"She told me that you would! Can you believe it?" Kelly replied and clasped her hands before her. "She asked me to tell you that no thanks are needed because you haven't actually used her information at the moment. Also she said that once the mission is done she would like to see you and ask a few questions."

"_She_ would like to ask _me_ questions?" Victoria queried. "I thought it should be the other way around. That woman gets stranger with every passing minute."

"I know but she is also so... so tall and regal, even without her armor. It felt as if I was talking to a demigoddess or a dragon. She is so much more incredible than any fantasy vid or book might have assumed," Kelly giggled with delight. "But she also looks so sad with those tattoos on her face. I wonder if those mean some sort of national or ethnic affiliation, like the turian face-paint or there is something more personal to it."

Shepard could not help but smile at the young woman's attitude. Dr Chakwas had joked once that Kelly should be contained like a hazardous material because her positive attitude and excitement were simply too infectious. While most people would have been a little wary of the new races, for Kelly Chambers it means that there was one more species for her to love.

"Thank you for the message Kelly," Victoria told her yeoman. "I'll be in my quarters if anything comes up."

Shepard walked into the elevator and ascended to her cabin to change into her armor.

_Fifteen minutes prior to docking to Purgatory._

"Is everyone set?" Victoria asked as she approached her team.

She received nods and affirmatives. Shepard studied Gallardi's remade armor. The hybrid of dark grey Imperial storm trooper armor and the black soft suit made the Captain look even more menacing. The man also still carried several poaches for his drum shaped magazines and one was stuffed to the brim with disk shaped grenades. Gallardi fixed the power pack to his weapon and it made a low whine, signaling its activation. Then Gallardi reached for his belt and took something Victoria thought she only saw in a museum - a bayonet.

Because modern combat usually tended to be ranged and the reloading time for state of the art weaponry was much shorter, bayonets became obsolete. They were also not effective against the more advanced hard suits. But looking at the Captain's double edged sword-like bayonet and the man's exceptional physique Shepard was sure Gallardi could do some damage.

"You really believe you're going to get that close, Captain?" Miranda asked as she eyed the man skeptically.

"Oh, I'm perfectly comfortable to stay at range," Gallardi replied. "But as Commander Shepard mentioned - confined spaces. The enemy tend to get ideas."

"I don't know how people prefer to fight back where you came from, but here only the krogan prefer close combat. And we do not expect to see those on Purgatory." Miranda voiced her position.

"You just answered your own question, Officer Lawson. You don't know how we fight." Gallardi told her as he allowed his weapon to rest on the sling. "Where I come from ship to ship action usually attracts a lot of general melee. So call it a force of habit."

"Fair enough," the brunette agreed and turned towards the airlock.

The Normandy shuddered slightly as she docked with the prison ship. Shepard heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Jacob in his Cerberus Combat armor with Kasumi and Zaeed in tow.

"All right people, put your killer faces on" Shepard said and moved towards the airlock. "Remember that we're not supposed to know about this trap."

The team filed out of the Normandy – Victoria in the lead flanked by Miranda and Garrus. Gallardi took the rearguard. As they approached the main checkpoint, one of the Blue Suns' turians stopped them.

"Welcome to Purgatory, Commander. Warden Kuril will greet you shortly," the helmeted turian announced. He then eyed the various weapons the group carried. "As this is a maximum security facility, we need to relieve you of your weapons before you enter."

"Not going to happen," Shepard replied in a tone that brokered no arguments.

"The regulations are the same for everyone, Commander. You can't let you in while you're armed," turian began to argue, but even through his helm's speakers it was evident that he was nervous.

"You're welcome to try taking them from us," Victoria smirked and moved her hand to the butt of her pistol.

All Blue Suns guards immediately raised their weapons to point at the group. Shepard only grinned more widely as she heard the sound of weapons prepared behind her supported by a low whine of Gallardi's lasgun.

The main hatch opened and revealed a helmet-less turian.

"Men! Stand down," the turian shouted and his men immediately lowered their weapons. Shepard immediately understood that this one was none other than Warden Kuril.

"Forgive my men, Commander they are merely following orders," Kuril said trying to diffuse the tension. "But I still have to ask you to turn in your weapons. I assure you they will be returned to you untouched once you leave the premises of the facility."

"Warden Kuril, I presume?" Shepard queried and shook her head. "Listen, I wouldn't relieve my weapons even if this was a governmental facility in the middle of Council space. And here? In the middle of Terminus systems on the station controlled by a mercenary band? No offense."

"None taken," the Warden replied with a shrug. He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Very well, you may keep your weapons. I'm sure we can handle any trouble from four people."

"_Yeah, keep dreaming buddy_," Shepard thought and motioned her group to follow.

* * *

><p>The turian Warden was ranting about how efficient and impenetrable his prison was. Gallardi was not impressed; it was evident that the ship was not planned as such. He once visited an Imperial prison ship as part of the security detail delivering heretic prisoners after a successful campaign. Now that was a prison – sentry turrets and kill boxes at every bulkhead. No glass walls, certainly, the thinnest wall was made of at least several centimeters of steel. The Imperium took no chances with their prisoners.<p>

"Does he really think that we are that stupid? First he tells us to give our weapons up, but when we simply decline, he still agrees to let us in. If this isn't a trap I don't know what is." Gallardi suddenly heard the flanging voice of the turian, Garrus Vakarian, to his left. "That bounty must be very big if he is willing to take such risks."

Gallardi hesitated for a moment. It was evident that the alien was talking to him – both Lawson and Shepard were walking a little further ahead. August knew that the Commander decided to include the turian on purpose. She wanted to test Gallardi to see if he could fight alongside aliens. August knew he shouldn't take offense, after all Shepard knew this turian for some time. Ironic as it sounded, Commander Shepard trusted the alien more than she trusted him.

"_You could do this August. You have already worked with the eldar and it worked out pretty well. Mostly_," Gallardi thought to himself as he pondered whether he should reply to turian or ignore his comment. He decided that he should try it, because when the bullets would start flying, he needed to trust this alien to cover his back; that was a new sensation.

"The eldar Farseer said that his greed blinds him, probably so much that he's willing to try to capture someone who carries the title of the Hero of the Citadel." August said quietly so that no one else could overhear their exchange. "Which brings me to a question I wanted to ask since the briefing – who could have posted a bounty on Commander Shepard?"

"Can't say for certain, Captain," the turian (Garrus Vakarian was his name, Gallardi reminded himself) replied. "Although I have a suspicion that it's the Shadow Broker."

"The Shadow Broker?" Gallardi queried.

"Right, you're not familiar with him. He or she is an information dealer. Sells secrets to the highest bidder. Two years ago when Shepard... died, I returned to C-Sec," Garrus told him. Gallardi was surprised to hear something akin to guilt in the alien's voice when he mentioned the Commanders demise. "I got wind from one of my informants that the Shadow Broker offered a massive sum for the remains of the fallen Commander. I brought the issue up with my superiors, told them that we should investigate. They said it wasn't important. Claimed that it must have been some eccentric billionaire who wanted to have a piece of Shepard, and he was using the Shadow Broker as a proxy. No one actually believed that some part of Shepard survived."

"You think that this is the same bounty?" August asked.

"Makes sense at the moment," Garrus replied.

The warden Kuril stopped and told Shepard something about Cerberus funds. The Commander nodded and kept her face neutral. Kuril walked back past both Gallardi and Garrus, eying August's weapon in the processes.

"Spirits damn you, bareface," Garrus muttered as he and Gallardi resumed following Shepard. Hearing the familiar word August decided to ask the turian for explanation.

"The eldar also called him 'barefaced warden'. Does the term have some specific meaning?"

Garrus tapped the patches of blue on his face with his talons. "Most of the turians have markings that denote the colony of their origin. Someone who doesn't wear them is considered untrustworthy."

"How fitting," Gallardi noted.

"Would have been good to know when exactly the ambush is going to happen," Garrus mentioned.

"You don't have to be a diviner to know when to expect this ambush," Gallardi told him, looking around.

"Really? Do you have any ideas?" The turian asked him.

"He wants to take us alive and he does not want to risk a direct confrontation, else he would have tried to ambush us at the checkpoint. So far it was the most defensible position on this ship," Gallardi explained. He pointed through the glass window at one of the individual cells. "He would probably try to isolate us in one of those cells."

"He will have to work real hard to force us into one," Garrus contradicted.

"Not really. He only needs to force us to fight somewhere with no available cover where our choice would be to either hide in the cell or get slaughtered," August replied.

Garrus nodded. "That would have worked if we didn't have two biotics with us and one of them was not Commander Shepard. And if your weapon could punch right through their shields, I don't think they would ever know what hit them."

Gallardi nodded.

The group entered a large hall that was empty save for a couple of tables and a terminal. A man dressed in some sort of working overalls was working on the terminal. The hall was a good site for an ambush.

"Out-processing is right through the hall," the man near the terminal told them without raising his head. Once Shepard passed him, he immediately shut down his terminal and quickly walked towards the exit of the room, brushing against Gallardi with his shoulder. August briefly considered knocking the man out, since in a few moments he will become the enemy but decided against it.

"This looks like the place," Gallardi announced loudly for everyone to hear.

"Agreed," Garrus said as he moved towards one of the tables. "I can safely bet a hundred credits that we are going to find a cozy prison cell right after that door at the end of the room.

Shepard turned to face them with an expression that she too had her suspicions about this room. She looked up and around the room, probably looking for security cameras.

* * *

><p>"You can come out Kuril! We knew this was a trap all along," she shouted as she approached the table and overturned to use as a makeshift cover.<p>

The door on the other side of the hall opened and revealed a small compartment.

"I'm sorry Shepard, but you're more valuable to me as a prisoner than a customer," the warden's voice was heard through the dynamics. "Please step in the cell and no one will be harmed."

"You do understand how stupid that sounds?" The Commander goaded him as she took her assault rifle and pointed it towards the door she recently walked through. "I have an alternative suggestion: Why don't you just give us what we want, take the money and let us leave without any fuss? It's infinitely better option than dying, trust me."

"Activate systems!" was the only response they got from the warden.

"It's your funeral, fucker," Shepard muttered and turned her team. "Take positions team. Weapons free."

Victoria aimed her Vindicator on the door and activated her tech armor. Her team used two overturned tables as a cover. It was a temporary solution - the tables would only protect them from a couple of bullets. The best tactic would be to defeat the first wave of the guards and then quickly push out of the room looking for better cover.

Shepard heard muffled sounds of footsteps behind the door. Then she noticed Gallardi doing something to her right and turned to see him taking out two grenades from his pouch. He set both for manual detonation and threw them towards the door. Anyone coming through is in for a surprise.

The door swooshed open and several FENRIS mechs rushed in. Almost subconsciously Victoria sent an overload pulse towards the group and saw that both Garrus and Miranda did the same. The arcs of electricity disabled most of the mechs. Then the two explosions rocked the hall as Gallardi detonated his grenades, sending mech parts all over the place.

Shepard saw the two turians in a Blue Suns armor follow the mechs and was about to open fire when a bolt of bright orange light connected with a head of the lead turian and it... burst like a ripe tomato. The second turian didn't even have the chance to look surprised when his head suffered the same fate.

"Holy shit!" was all Victoria managed and looked at the Captain.

"Right, no need for high-power shots," Gallardi muttered to himself as he flipped some sort of switch on his gun. He took aim once again and Victoria switched back to the door and saw two humans led by a batarian with a tech armor similar to her own.

Gallardi fired once again but this time his bolts were less bright although they came in short bursts of three. Not that it made any difference for the Blue Suns. The batarian jerked back from triple hits in the head, his tech armor failed to protect him completely. One of the humans quickly followed his batarian comrade also receiving a burst to the head. The last one was wearing a helmet but when he also got hit in the head his blue optical sensors exploded and his faceplate cracked. The man screamed and clutched at his face, and Gallardi silenced him with another burst.

Victoria noticed that all five men were killed by head shots. Either it was extremely easy to fire from lasgun or Gallardi was an exemplary marksman; perhaps both.

"Moving forward," Gallardi announced, kicked the table before him and strode towards the door. The Blue Suns probably decided to pull back a little, seeing as their first wave failed to even enter the room.

Victoria cursed herself for acting like a schoolgirl on a military parade while watching Gallardi with her mouth open. Her only consolation was that both Ms. Perfect and Mr. Badass Turian Vigilante both looked similarly impressed by the Imperial Storm trooper and his weapon.

"Move in support," Shepard commanded and followed Gallardi out of the room. She saw the Captain unleash a long series of fire into the left corridor. Then he performed a combat roll and reached the corridors other wall and took cover behind a support beam. He then took his gun in a left handed grip and continued to fire from cover with the same accuracy.

Whatever doubts Victoria had about Gallardi's competence as soldier were long gone. If the man decided to take the N7 recruitment test the next day, he would pass it without breaking a sweat. The only thing that was odd about him is that he was a little too careful and left cover only for a split second to squeeze another burst. Then it hit her - Gallardi was not used to kinetic barriers. He came from a place where even the most experienced soldier can be killed by one stray shot. Gallardi was not too careful - it was Shepard who was too careless.

The same can be said about the Blue Suns mercs. They trusted their barriers and were dearly paying for it.

"Shepard, they are trying to bunker down," Gallardi said over the comm. "I'm going to storm ahead. Provide covering fire."

"Copy that. Suppressing," Victoria replied and opened up on full auto. She was quickly followed by Garrus' Vindicator and the bursts from Miranda's Tempest.

Gallardi took another grenade and threw it towards the covering Blue Suns. Not waiting for grenade to fall and explode he dashed forward towards another cover. The grenade exploded sending the mercs out of cover where they were immediately picked by the Captain.

"What was it that you said, Miranda? 'He might be not qualified enough for this mission'?" Shepard shouted to her XO. "Look! He makes _US_ look useless! Everyone advance!"

In ten seconds every Blue Sun merc in the junction was dead.

"Clear," Gallardi announced needlessly.

"Impressive, Captain," Shepard told him as she surveyed the carnage around her. "We really need those las weapons and we need them now. No, yesterday!"

"Spirits, are all your battles are this intense?" Garrus asked as he fiddled with his visor. "It should have taken us four maybe five minutes to clear this corridor. We did it in 54 seconds."

"No wonder. These mercenaries are a joke!" Gallardi said. "What is their problem? They stand idly like FNGs in their first firefight, not bothering to take cover. It was almost like shooting dummies on the firing range!"

"Their problem is you actually, Gallardi," Shepard told him and explained her theory about reliance on barriers. The Captain scratched his head, which looked comically considering that he was still wearing a helmet.

"My sincere advice to you Shepard and everyone else is to start learning to keep your head down, because with this..." The man shook his weapon. "Fuck ups ain't tolerated."

"Could not agree more," Victoria nodded and activated her comm. to contact the Normandy. "Taylor, this is Shepard. Come in."

"This is Taylor," came Jacob's reply. "Go ahead."

"What's the situation out there, Jacob?" Victoria queried.

"Five minutes ago the Blue Suns tried to force their way into the Normandy," Jacob reported. "We held them back until they suddenly broke off and retreated to the checkpoint. EDI hacked into the security system and says they barricaded there to both keep us out and keep everyone else in."

"Understood Jacob, stay put and guard the Normandy," Victoria ordered. "EDI?"

"Yes, Commander?" EDI replied.

"Since you're already connected can you locate Jack for us" Shepard asked the AI.

"The corridor you're currently in leads to a security room that oversees the cryo chamber," EDI replied immediately. "According to prisoners' log, prisoner 'Jack' is currently inside that chamber."

"Great, thanks EDI. Let's move out people!" Victoria ordered and motioned towards the end of the corridor.

When they reached the door to the security room, the team positioned themselves on each side of the entrance. Suddenly Gallardi approached the door and made a hand motion as if he was trying to check the time on his wrist watches.

"I read one target inside the room," He announced and took position near the wall.

"How can you tell? My radar is scrambled," Shepard asked him.

"Mine is too, but the thermal scanner works perfectly," the Captain replied and tapped on a device on his helmet that looked like a camera or flashlight.

"Oh, that's useful," Victoria nodded and took aim at the door. "Alright one man should not be a problem. Gallardi, take point."

"On it," the man answered and opened the door.

Inside was a tech worker they all saw earlier in the empty hall. The man turned to look at them with an expression of pure terror on his face. He raised his pistol and started to shoot wildly at Gallardi.

"Shepard is loose! I rep...gahh!" the man tried to warn someone frantically until a lasbolt through the neck silenced him.

"Clear," Victoria announced as they all entered the room. "Miranda, check the terminal. See how we can get Jack out."

"Will do, Commander," Miranda replied and started to work on the terminal.

Victoria walked towards the dead tech and examined the wound. It wasn't a pretty sight. Actually no, it was an immensely ugly sight. There were little blood and the wound was cauterized, probably from immense heat the lasbolt generated. The wound itself looked like the man was hit by explosive round.

"That's a nasty wound," Garrus noted behind her.

"Let me guess: you expected to see a relatively small burn mark and a perforating wound?" Gallardi asked as he surveyed the cryo chamber through the window.

"Well yes," Victoria replied. "At least that's how the old sci-fi vids pictured them."

Gallardi chuckled and shook his head.

"We call it a civilian's mistake. The average Imperial citizen that never sees combat and rarely see actual wounds from las weapons," the man began explaining. "They see violence only through the propaganda vids and those tend to make wounds less... graphic. In reality, the laser weapon principle is quite simple: it delivers a massive amount of energy from barrel to target where upon contact the energy usually transforms into heat. It melts the metal and burns through the fabric."

Gallardi racked his knuckles against his breastplate.

"That's why we rely mostly on ceramite - it's more resistant to heat," the Captain continued to explain. "With living matter however, the effect is a little different. As you might know there is one thing that unifies both human and alien bodies - all are partially made of water. Almost every cell has water and when a lasbolt hits living tissue, it delivers enough energy to instantly turn that water into vapor."

"It builds up pressure inside the cells and they just burst," Shepard finished. "Hm, simple and effective. Brutal, too."

"It makes your enemies dead. Don't tell that you really care about how they die?" Gallardi asked her.

"Me? No, not really. The people I shoot usually deserve what's coming for them," Victoria shook her head. "But believe it or not we have whole organizations that might consider such weapon as 'unethical'."

The Captain shrugged. "Projectile weapons can create far more disfiguring wounds depending on their caliber. And you still bleed when you get hit."

"Good point," Shepard agreed and turned to her XO. "Miranda, what's taking so long?"

Miranda sighed. "Shepard, trying to release only Jack from her cell will take a lot of time. I can override the lock down and release her immediately, but it will also release every other prisoner on board."

Shepard pondered for a minute. "Alright, do it. Everyone get ready."

Miranda tapped several buttons on a terminal and the team looked through the window to see a mechanical arm removing a single cryo cell from its slot. The cell opened up but it was hard to make any detail of its occupant because of the veil of mist.

Shepard watched in horror as several heavy mechs suddenly activated and trained their weapons on a cell.

"Dammit! Miranda, see if you can disable those mechs!" Victoria shouted frantically.

"I'm trying!" The operative said, furiously typing at the terminal.

The mist finally dissipated and the team got their first view of Subject Zero.

"Wait, that's Jack?" Garrus muttered.

Jack was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. Her head was shaved and the visible part of her body was covered in tattoos. She was dressed in a prison jumpsuit similar to other inmates, although it only covered the lower half of her body; the upper half was wrapped around her waist. She had some sort of belt covering her chest, although why she even bothered with it was beyond Victoria.

Suddenly Jack's eyes shot open and she began struggling against her restraints. Then her body flared with a corona of biotic energy and they were torn away. Jack took one uncertain step forward and looked at her immediate surroundings. When she noticed the heavy mechs her body flared with biotics and with a feral snarl she charged towards the closest mech.

Shepard winced, expecting the young woman to die horribly in the next moment. But instead she saw the biotic collide with the mech... and it disappeared in a cloud of fire. Wrecked mechanical parts were flying in every direction. What was more impressive was that Jack appeared from the fireball and immediately rushed towards the next opponent.

"After her! Quickly!" Victoria ordered and rushed towards another exit from the security room.

"Did I just saw it right?" Garrus asked behind her. "That Jack just destroyed a Yummy mech! With her _hands_!"

"Now I understand what Maeteris meant when she said that 'the one we seek to retrieve will provide the exit'," Shepard said as she rushed down the stairs. "She's going to tear a hole in this station and call it an exit!"

They rushed into the cryo room only to find the smoldering remains of three YMIR mechs. A huge hole was blasted through the wall.

"Impressive. Three heavy mechs destroyed in just a few seconds," Miranda noted. "No wonder the Illusive Man recommended her."

"Let's hope we will be able to actually convince her to join us," Shepard said and moved towards the newly made hall. "Let's follow her path of destruction; it will be our best guide."

They moved through the poorly lit corridor, encountering mangled corpses of the Blue Suns. The light died for a moment and then emergency lightning kicked in.

"Alert! Sections six, seven and eight lost life support. No survivors," Purgatory's VI announced indifferently.

"Everyone seal up," Victoria commanded, activating the airtight seals of her helmet.

Both Miranda and Garrus put on their helmets and Gallardi took out some sort of face plate and attached it to his own. The red optics of his now fully sealed helmet made him look even more sinister. It seems that the Imperial armor was as much a psychological weapon as it was protection.

"Comm. check!" Victoria said inside her helmet. Three confirmations sounded in response. "Alright people, let's move. Gallardi takes point, Garrus in the rear. Move it people!"

They entered one of the large spaces where the prison cells were stored. A scene of absolute destruction and chaos greeted them. At a distance, several prisoners fought against the Blue Suns guards with salvaged weapons. Some of the prisoners saw the Shepard's team and opened fire on them too.

"Light them up!" Victoria ordered and opened fire. "Unless it's Jack, everyone else on this ship is to be considered hostile."

The prisoners stood no chance, not having even kinetic barriers to protect them. The Blue Suns lasted a little longer but soon were also dead from Miranda's and Shepard's biotics, Gallardi's lasgun and Garrus' sniper fire.

The team crossed the large hall and entered through the security checkpoint the similar section of the ship. This one was mostly filled with Blue Suns, who managed to overcome all of the escaped convicts. And in a moment Shepard understood why.

"I have a high priority target," came Gallardi's voice. Victoria looked at his position and saw a YMIR mech slowly coming around one of the fallen prison cells. It was also dangerously close to Miranda's position.

"Miranda, fall back a little it's getting too close," Shepard advised her XO. "We'll cover you."

Miranda rose to run to another cover but dropped back immediately as the heavy mech opened up with its autocannon on her position.

"I'm pinned!" came the Miranda's frantic report.

"I'll try to get its attention," Gallardi said and Shepard saw him firing one of his 'high-power shots' into the mech's head. Then another. And then another one. The metal plating started to melt and YMIR's head started to sparkle.

Victoria suddenly remembered one thing about YMIR structure and tried to warn the Captain about it.

"Gallardi don't shoot it in the head or else it's going to trigger..." her warning came a bit too late as the forth lasbolt penetrated the plating and struck something vital inside. The head exploded and YMIR dropped on its knees.

"It's gonna blow!" Victoria shouted as she heard the familiar beeping sound. "Miranda, clear the blast zone!"

* * *

><p>Miranda rose and dashed away but in the confusion she stumbled on the corpse of one of the prisoners. When she managed to stand up it was too late. The heavy mech self-destructed. Miranda was clear of the main blast but the shock wave sent her flying towards the wall.<p>

She hit it, hard, the air smashed from her lungs by the force of the impact.

"_Could have been much worse,_" was her first thought as she tried to rise. She blessed her own foresight that made her wear the hard suit for this mission and not the prototype jumpsuit she wore usually in her other missions for Cerberus; she would have ended up with a broken spine.

Her head was ringing and she began to remove her helmet. Her better judgment was screaming at her not to do it but she didn't care. All she wanted was to get her helmet off for a few seconds.

Suddenly something collided with her and Miranda found herself pinned under someone's weight. Her helmet was thrown off her head and she blinked several times trying to identify her attacker.

It was one of the prisoners, who had probably been hiding somewhere around the broken prison cells. The man was a huge brute with bulging muscles and was grinning lecherously at her face.

"Oh! A pretty girl!" the man said as he grabbed Miranda's arms and pinned them to the ground. "Brick likes to play with pretty girls!"

"_Oh bloody hell, now? I mean NOW?_" The operative thought as she recognized the prisoner's intentions. She tried to kick the prisoner of her but failed. Being engineered for perfection made her stronger than an average woman but her current adversary was too big and strong even for her.

"Oh, the girl likes to fight? Brick loves when girls fight!" The prisoner leaned down towards Miranda's face and she suppressed an urge to vomit when she smelled his putrid breath. "Brick loves to hear the girls scream when he breaks them."

Miranda tried to focus on a mnemonic to summon her biotics. Her attacker struck his tongue out and leaned down to lick her face when suddenly Miranda saw a shadow appear behind the prisoner. The man suddenly gasped and his eyes widened in surprise. Blood started to trickle from his mouth. He coughed, covering Miranda's face in his blood and saliva and then the prisoner was yanked off the woman.

Miranda recognized the shadow as Captain Gallardi. The man pointed his rifle at the prisoner and fired twice.

"Call me old fashioned," he said to the corpse. "But I believe that you're supposed to give flowers first."

Ge reached down and grabbed the Miranda's arm, hauling her up.

"A little too close for comfort, isn't it, Officer Lawson?" the stormtrooper said and Miranda noticed traces of blood on the man's bayonet.

She was about to retort but then several bullets ring on the nearby wall and they both dived for cover. Miranda wiped some of the blood from her face and then reached for her helmet that was lying nearby. She put the helmet on and took out her Phalanx. Gallardi was in the nearby cover firing on a batarian with tech armor. Another two Blue Suns mercs were running towards their position.

Miranda rose from her cover and sent and overload towards the duo, disabling their shields. Then she killed both men with precise shots in the head. She looked at Gallardi, who already killed his batarian and rose from cover.

"I can take care of myself, Captain," she told him.

"And I never said that you couldn't," Gallardi told her with a shrug. "But I think you should agree that having a blade for occasions such as these is always useful."

"Maybe," Miranda said as she moved to find her fallen Tempest.

Miranda hated to accept the she was wrong but the Captain was right here. Maybe she should get herself a combat knife. Just in case.

* * *

><p>Once the section was cleared Shepard gathered her team near the entrance of another checkpoint.<p>

"You're alright Miranda?" Victoria asked her XO. "Anything broken?"

"No, nothing too important," Miranda shook her head. "I was a little winded and I'll probably have a bruise on my whole body. I'm good to go."

"Alright," Shepard nodded and turned to Gallardi. "For future reference, Captain, when you shoot the heavy mech's head off it triggers the self-destruct mechanism, as you might have noticed."

"I see," the man replied and turned to Miranda. "Sorry about that Lawson, it was my fault that you got hurt. I have no idea of this... "mech's" capabilities."

Miranda waved her hand dismissively. "It's nothing Captain. It's my own fault that I didn't provide you with information on the enemy's capabilities and armament in the first place. I am an Executive Officer after all. I'll make sure you have all the intel once we get back on the Normandy."

"I appreciate it," the Captain said with a nod.

"Good, that settles it then," Victoria said. "We're nearing the docking area. There we'll probably catch up with Jack. Let's move!"

They entered the next cellblock through another checkpoint. There the fighting was still heavy as the Blue Suns and the prisoners who tried to reach the hangars exchanged rounds. Shepard's team had to dive for cover immediately because they were greeted by a heavy fire, probably from a machine gun.

Victoria briefly glanced from her cover to determine the position of the rapid firing weapon. She saw a shimmering dome of the heavy kinetic barrier and saw a turian crouching with a light machine gun. She recognized the warden immediately.

Kuril probably saw her as she entered the cellblock because he started shouting.

"Damn you Shepard! I could have sold you to the Shadow Broker and lived like a king to the rest of my life!" Kuril shouted as he shot a couple of prisoners. "Yet you had to ruin everything! But it doesn't matter! I'll recapture Jack and then I'm going to sell your corpse! Even dead you're still valuable."

"You should have taken the money Kuril!" Victoria shouted back, not really interested in a verbal debate.

Nearby, Gallardi tried to rise and take a shot but was immediately forced back into cover.

"You got to give the damn xenos credit, he chose a position with a perfect field of fire," the man said and turned towards Garrus. "No offense Vakarian."

"None taken!" Garrus replied and glanced over the cover. "Damn it! Shepard we're not getting through that barrier without heavy weapons!"

"No matter how powerful it is, it's still a kinetic barrier," Shepard said and turned to the Captain. "Gallardi, I need you to make a million credit shot while we suppress all other mercs. You're up for it?"

"On your mark, Shepard," Gallardi said and took position.

"Only on my command. Miranda, Garrus? Get ready to suppress the enemy positions. Everyone except Kuril," Victoria ordered and prepared her assault rifle. "Now!"

All three rose from their cover and showered the Blue Suns with bullets. Gallardi rose in the next second and lined up to fire on Kuril.

The turian warden seemed to understand their strategy because he focused his fire on Gallardi's position. Shepard saw as the Captain's barriers flared from successful hits but then Gallardi fired once and the machine gun was silenced. Gallardi immediately dropped into cover and started patting his head and chest as if looking for wounds.

"You alright Gallardi?" Victoria asked him.

"I think... I just such a weird experience," the man replied. "I saw bullets impact on the barrier right in front of my face. I should be dead but I'm not."

"Well, as you said yourself: don't get used to it. When lasguns hit the market, barriers won't save you," Shepard said and sent a biotic push into a group of prisoners. "Ok, people, let's finish them off!"

With warden's death the Blue Suns started to retreat, most of them run towards the escape pods. The prisoners were no match for Shepard and her team. In several minutes Victoria was back at the main checkpoint that led back to the Normandy. There they finally caught up with Jack.

The diminutive biotic was busy throwing around Blue Suns mercs who made the mistake of trying to capture her alive. When the last one was dead or unconscious, Jack looked through the view port on the Normandy. Something caught her eye and she started cursing and snarling. Suddenly one of the batarian mercs rose behind Jack and tried to shoot her in the head. He did not get far however because Victoria killed him with a burst from her assault rifle.

Jack turned to look at Shepard, scowled and started to pace right and left.

"Who the fuck are you?" The biotic asked Victoria angrily.

"I'm someone who just saved your ass," Shepard replied. She decided to follow the eldar's advice on how to deal with Jack.

"He was already dead. He just didn't know it yet," Jack said evenly. "So once again: who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you want?"

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance and a Council Spectre if it means anything to you," Victoria replied. "Me and my team were the one who got you out of the cryo cell. I came here to make you an offer."

"Screw your offers!" Jack snapped and continued to pace. "I'm not coming anywhere with you. You're Cerberus."

"How did you know I'm with..." Shepard asked but then she caught sight of the Normandy outside of the view port. The Cerberus logo was clearly visible on its side.

Shepard turned to her XO. "Miranda, if I remember right I ordered the removal of _all_ Cerberus logos from my ship."

Miranda sighed. "And we did remove them. Except for those that require a dry dock."

"Fair point," Victoria said and turned back to Jack. "And what is it with you and Cerberus? You dealt with them earlier?"

"Yeah, I have dealt with you fuckers before, don't play dumb with me!" Jack shouted back.

"I'm not playing dumb because I'm not Cerberus," Victoria told her evenly. "They're providing resources and funds for my mission."

"Like I'm going to believe you," the biotic said and motioned towards the Normandy. "Cerberus has been hunting me for years since I escaped from them and now you are showing up on the big Cerberus ship and say that you're not one of them? Right, you think I'm that stupid?"

"You do understand that I'm probably your only way from this station before it blows up?" Victoria asked the woman, trying a little different approach. As if to confirm her words, the station shook violently and the lights flickered.

"I'd better take my chances here than on the Cerberus ship," Jack said. "I'm not going with you. End of story."

Victoria pondered for a moment. "OK! Have it your way. It was a pleasure to meet you Jack. Let's go people, we're done here."

"Commander?" Miranda asked clearly puzzled. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. It's obvious that Jack does not want to work with us and I'm not going to force her to do it," Shepard said and started to walk towards the airlock.

When the group passed somewhat surprised Jack, Victoria started to count in her head from ten to one. When she reached one she heard exactly the word she expected to hear.

"Wait!" Jack shouted with a little less hostility this time.

Shepard turned and looked at the biotic. "What is it Jack?"

"You're saying you're not Cerberus?" Jack asked.

"Nope," Victoria said shortly.

"What sort of offer where you talking about?" the biotic asked cautiously.

"I'm gathering a team of specialists for my mission. The Galaxy's strongest, brightest and meanest. Judging by what I saw today, you perfectly fit into the last batch."

"Why the fuck do you need such a team?" Jack asked a little incredulously.

"A race of aliens called the Collectors is abducting human colonists in the Terminus systems," Shepard said and crossed her arms. "We're going to stop them."

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright, say I believe you. You want me to come with you? Make it worth my while."

"I'm listening," Shepard replied evenly, trying not to show her satisfaction from managing to convince Jack.

"I bet your ship has a lot of Cerberus databases. I want that information," the biotic replied.

"Deal," Victoria said quickly.

Miranda frowned nearby. "The Illusive Man is not going to like it, Shepard."

"Aw, and it upsets the Cheerleader! That's even better," Jack grinned.

Shepard turned to Miranda. "The Illusive Man himself told me to use any means necessary to recruit the people from the dossiers. Jack wants Cerberus data, she gets it."

The station shook once again, this time more violently. Miranda looked around and said. "You have a point there, Shepard."

Victoria turned back to Jack. "I'll give you full access."

"You'd better be straight with me," the young woman warned her.

"Well, you have only one way to find that out. Come on, let's leave before this place blows to hell," Shepard said and turned towards the Normandy once again.

A couple of minutes later they were all on board and the Normandy disengaged from the prison ship.

Shepard approached Jacob and asked. "Was there any more trouble?"

"No ma'am, everything was quiet," Jacob replied.

"I take it your mission was a success?" the trademark voice of the Farseer sounded in the corridor. Everyone turned to look at the approaching eldar. She looked briefly at Jack before continuing towards the cockpit. There she stood near Joker's chair and looked intently at his holographic interface as if searching for something. Victoria approached the pilot's chair from the other side.

"Is there something wrong, Lady Maeteris?" Shepard asked the eldar.

The Farseer was quiet for a moment and then she pointed at one of the ship's signatures.

"There. This ship is capable of long range travel and is carrying a dangerous man. Destroy it."

Joker looked at Victoria for confirmation. Shepard was about to ask if the eldar was sure when the Farseer replied.

"I'm certain Commander. That man will only bring sorrow and death."

Victoria hesitated for a second.

"Joker, tail him and give me a firing solution."

"Commander?" Joker asked uncertainly.

"Do it, Joker," Shepard said in her command voice.

"Aye, aye!" the pilot said and his hands began to dance on the console.

"EDI, give me a wide frequency broadcast," Victoria asked the AI.

"Go ahead, Commander," EDI replied immediately.

"Attention transport shuttle number TP-447156. This is Commander Shepard speaking aboard the "Normandy"," Victoria addressed the shuttle through the comm. channel. "You're suspected of carrying a fugitive from justice. Stand down and prepare to be taken into custody. Failure to comply will mean your ship will be destroyed. This is your only warning."

No reply came.

"Shepard, I'm detecting an energy buildup in the shuttle's FTL drives," EDI reported.

That was all the answer Shepard needed. "Fire at will, Joker."

"Firing," Joker replied and the ship shuddered slightly. "Target destroyed."

Victoria turned towards Maeteris. "I don't suppose there was any chance he was going to surrender?"

Maeteris looked back at Shepard. "He was a murderous beast that was caged for the better part of his life. The smell of freedom quickly overpowered his sense of self preservation."

The eldar turned to leave. "I will be in my chamber, if you need me," Maeteris said and moved towards the elevator. Everyone parted before her.

"Nice getup, princess," Jack said as the eldar passed her. The Farseer didn't dignify her comment with any response. Once Maeteris disappeared into the elevator, Jack turned to Shepard.

"What's with the cosplay chick?" She asked Victoria.

"I'm sorry, a cosplay chick?"

"You know, what's with her dressed as some sort of elf princess or some shit?" Jack asked with a tilt of the head towards the elevator.

"Oh, you mean the eldar," Shepard said and smiled as she got the meaning of the phrase. "No, she isn't in costume, she's genuine."

"You mean while I was stuck in that freezer you people discovered a race of space elves?" Jack said and shook her head. "Shit, as if the squid heads weren't enough."

"Stick around and you'll see a lot of weird things," Shepard told her. "Alright people, every one dismissed except Miranda and Jack. You two, meet me in the Comm. Room."

Inside the Comm. Room it was Miranda who addressed Jack first.

"Welcome to the Normandy, Jack. I'm Miranda Lawson - Commander Shepard's second in command. Since you agreed to join our team I sincerely hope that you understand that you will have to follow orders, at least on the battlefield?"

Jack looked at her indifferently while she leaned and the wall with her arms crossed. She turned to look at Shepard. "Tell the Cerberus Cheerleader to back off Shepard. I'm here because of our deal."

"So is Miranda," Victoria said. "As a ranking Cerberus operative on the ship she'll give you the access to the files you need. Tell me if you find anything."

Jack grinned and leaned towards Miranda. "Hear that precious? You and I are going to friends. You, me, and every embarrassing little secret."

Miranda looked unfazed and simply crossed her arms while Victoria could not help but think that the last sentence was a phrase from some porn movie and had to suppress a disturbing image of Miranda and Jack in her mind.

"I'll be reading down in the hold or somewhere near the bottom. I don't like a lot of traffic," Jack said and turned to leave. "Keep your people off me. Better that way."

Miranda looked at Shepard, nodded and left. Victoria sighed, satisfied that she managed to pull this off and decided to get in her quarters to change and take a shower. She was going to have at least one weird conversation today.

* * *

><p>Maeteris was kneeling in her cabin when she felt the ship's mistress Shepard approach the door of her room. She opened the door and allowed Shepard to enter.<p>

"Farseer," Shepard began as the door closed. "Earlier today you left a message that you would like to see me once the mission is over. You said you'd have some questions for me."

"I do," Maeteris said and motioned towards her bed. "Please sit."

Shepard did so and continued to speak.

"Before we begin however I wanted to personally thank you for your insight. It helped us greatly."

"Do not thank me yet, Commander, for we have only begun," the Farseer told the human.

"Only begun?" Shepard asked, clearly confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Maeteris sat on a small chair near the desk. "Tell me this, Commander: how do you think your last mission went?"

Shepard thought for a moment. "We completed all our objectives and got out only with minor wounds. I'd say it was pretty successful."

"Very good," the eldar nodded very slightly. "Now tell me this: what if I did not provide with the insight in the future. In fact, what if both I and the Imperial never arrived here in the first place. Would you have succeeded then?"

Shepard looked thoughtful for some time. Then she spoke with a slight shrug.

"There would have been more wounded and it would have taken more time. But in the end? Yes I believe we would have succeeded. I dealt with worse things before."

"You would have persevered despite the hardships and became stronger in the end," Maeteris concluded. "Do you understand that, in fact, what I did was a disservice to you? You used my visions as a crutch instead of relying on your own instincts."

"Well, I suppose if you put it that way..." the Commander said rubbing the back of her neck in confusion.

"Therefore I will not do anything like that in the future," Maeteris declared. "Not unless it makes a difference between victory and failure."

Shepard's eyes lit up a little. "You're offering your help?"

"If you're willing to take it then yes," the Farseer replied.

Shepard stared at her for a moment before asking her next question. "I don't mean to look a gift horse in the mouth but why?"

Maeteris frowned slightly. "I'll assume that this was some sort of eloquent human expression and you didn't just call me a single-hoofed animal you humans use for riding."

The Commander quickly raised her hands in denial. "Oh no, no, no! It means that I'm not supposed to be ungrateful for the gift."

"I see," the Farseer relaxed a little. "To answer your question as to why I'm offering help then it's simple: survival and gratitude. When these Reapers attack, I will not be able to defeat them alone. Since you're fighting them too it is logical that we join forces. Also you provided a sanctuary for me and I do not intend to be ungrateful."

"We'e grateful for any help you can give," Shepard smiled and tilted her head in gratitude.

"Good. If there is nothing else I would like to be alone to meditate of the future events," Maeteris said and stood up.

"Then I shall take my leave," Shepard spoke as she stood up and moved to the door. "Once again, thank you."

* * *

><p>Gallardi stood in the mess hall waiting for Shepard to finish talking with eldar. When she exited the Farseer's room the Commander immediately approached him.<p>

"Gallardi? You wanted to ask me about something?"

"I do. About the eldar," August replied. "Did she say why all of a sudden she decided to help us?"

"In a way," Shepard said and started to retell her dialog with the eldar. Gallardi took it all in and thought about for a moment.

"Well that makes sense, although you can never be sure with the eldar," August stated finally.

"I know. While she looks almost the same as we are, she thinks on a completely different level," the Commander agreed. "She felt more alien than turians or krogan."

"Speaking of turians," Shepard continued. "It's time for your final evaluation."

Gallardi stood straighter, awaiting the Commanders judgment.

Shepard smiled. "No need to be afraid Gallardi. You performed an excellent job as a soldier. And I must say that you did a pretty good job working alongside Garrus."

August chuckled slightly. "I don't know whether I should take the last statement as an insult or a compliment."

"It's a compliment Gallardi, make no mistake about that," the Commander said and offered her hand. "Allow me to fully welcome you to my team, Captain."

"Proud to be here, Commander," August said as he shook her hand. "Glory to the Emperor."

Shepard looked uncertain as to how to respond to that but then she simply nodded and smiled.

* * *

><p><em>AN. Well, I hope you liked this one. The next chapter might be ready soon as I'm gone on a well-deserved vacation and I can devote more time to writing. __Stay tuned!_


	7. Gifts from traitors & mess hall stories

_Author's Note: Not much to say about this chapter. Just read and review. I hope you'll like the changes _I've made.

To Gear-2557: I'm still waiting for the suggestions you promised. Don't think I forgot. ;)

To zzxxphaser: If you want to get an answer to your question you'll need to activate the Private Messaging feature. Just saying. :D

Also, I want to once again openly thank Colonel-Mustard1990 for his beta reading. Some parts of this fic are actually his idea.

That's it for now. Let's get back to the story.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: Gifts from traitors and mess hall stories.<strong>

**Location: Arcturus Station, Systems Alliance Navy headquarters_._**

"So let me get this straight," Admiral Hackett said as he rubbed his temples. "You're saying that she first docked with a prison ship without any incident and in half an hour an all-out riot started?"

"Yes Admiral, exactly," captain Feng replied. "We don't know what exactly happened on Purgatory that caused a riot, but several surviving Blue Suns members claimed that it was Commander Shepard who released the prisoners. They also claim that she started to fire on the escape pods once the Normandy undocked."

"Shepard fired on unarmed escape pods? You do understand that those two phrases should not be part of the same sentence?" Hackett asked incredulously. Victoria Shepard was a hero, not a bloodthirsty maniac.

"Sir, we have little information as it is about the incident. Purgatory was completely destroyed, all its records gone," Feng said apologetically. "All we have are eye witness accounts."

"Great, Internal Security trust the words of a semi legal mercenary band now," Rear Admiral Mikhailovich grumbled in his thick Russian accent. "We all know that prison ship was a scam, a mobile extortion racket. If they even crossed the boundaries of Council space we would ordered their destruction ourselves. Did they even say why they let her on the ship in the first place? What was Shepard doing there?"

Feng consulted with his datapad. "Some say that she was there as a buyer for a prisoner. Who the prisoner was or why Shepard wanted to buy this prisoner we don't know."

Mikhailovich frowned. "Each time you give a report about Shepard the situation makes less sense. First she stirs up half of Omega only to recruit three people. While you claim that she works for Cerberus, she actually sends us very sensitive data about Cerberus and then raids a Cerberus facility and transfers one of their victims to us. Now this," the Rear Admiral finished and turned to Hackett. "Don't know about you, sir, but I'm at a complete loss."

Hackett sighed. "Captain, do we actually have any theory on the motivations of Commander?"

"It is too early to make any assumptions on what…" Feng began but was interrupted by the Hackett's fist slamming on the table.

"God damn it, Feng!" Hackett raised his voice, something he rarely did even in the heat of battle. "You're Internal Security! Games and theory! Just give me your best damn guess!"

Feng's face remained neutral. "So far we have only one logical explanation."

"And that is?" Mikhailovich asked.

"We believe that Staff Commander Shepard is not in the right state of mind." Feng deadpanned.

Hackett groaned and rested his head on his hands. Mikhailovich made a rude noise and raised a hand with a thumb up.

"Excellent! It is a best case scenario to call someone insane, you'll never be mistaken! And you know why? In our line of work complete sanity is a luxury few can afford."

"Admirals, please allow me explain. We might have a logical reason to believe that Shepard's thinking is impaired." Captain said defensively.

"Oh, this I would like to hear," Hackett replied. "All right Feng, shoot."

"Thank you, sir," Feng said and relaxed a little. "You see, our scientists have been studying the scans we received from C-sec scanners during a Shepard's latest visit. They revealed that Commander Shepard is not a clone. They also revealed traces of extensive cybernetic reconstruction. Half of the tech is a mystery to us but the other half the scientists actually figured out revealed that this whole 'resurrection' is actually theoretically possible. It is possible to say that the Commander has been actually brought back from the dead."

Mikhailovich chuckled. "Don't tell the Elizyans about that."

"That is all very interesting but what does it have to do with Shepard's sanity?" Hackett asked impatiently.

"I am getting to that sir," Feng anxiously replied. "Our psychologists suggest that while she is alive and physically well, her mental state might be damaged. Mainly because she had a death experience and survived and now her mind struggles to come with the terms that her current state is not an afterlife. Something that should not have happened actually happened to her and her own mind cannot accept it. Therefore she might be suffering from a strong neurological disorder."

"Councilor Anderson said that she seemed completely stable during her visit to the Citadel," Hackett contradicted. "Are you saying that she actually suffers from schizophrenia?"

"It's a possibility. Therefore the Internal Security is asking permission to launch and operation and detain Staff Commander Shepard so that we could determine her state of mind," Captain Feng finished.

"You have trouble tracking her in the Terminus, how are you planning to catch her?"

Before Feng could reply, Hackett's adjutant entered the briefing room and approached the Admiral.

"Admiral, you have an incoming real-time call. It says it's urgent," the adjutant reported.

Hackett frowned. "Who is it and can it wait for a bit?"

"The signal is extremely well encrypted but it bears the authority of a Council Spectre."

"Damn it, more of the Council's pet hounds," Hackett exclaimed. "If this is about the information on Shepard, tell them that we don't have anything new."

"Sir," the adjutant continued. "It's actually Spectre Shepard who wants to talk with you."

Hackett's eyes widened and he turned towards his colleagues in the room.

"Speak of the devil!" Mikhailovich noted.

"Put her through," Hackett ordered. The holographic display in the middle of the briefing room flickered and revealed the image of a woman over whose funeral he presided nearly two years ago. The Alliance PR department was having a field day coming up with a convenient story for the masses about the sudden reappearance of the dead Commander. Hackett himself was very happy to see Shepard alive but he wished that her resurrection was a little less public. That would have spared the Alliance of answering many uncomfortable questions.

Shepard was dressed in a simple black and white officer uniform without any markings. While Hackett new that black and white were colors of Cerberus, he was glad that Shepard didn't wear their insignia openly. Victoria also had a smug expression on her face as a person who was extremely pleased with herself.

"Admiral Hackett, sir," Shepard spoke first. "I'd say 'long time, no see' but I actually feel like we had that briefing about the Amada system less then month ago."

"Shepard. You look well," Hackett replied with a slight nod.

The Commander made several hand movements as if trying to remove folds from her uniform. "You think so? I'll make sure to mention to the Cerberus operative in charge of the project to bring me back that you appreciate her work."

She then turned her head to look Mikhailovich: "Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, it's good to see you again. How is 63rd Scout flotilla faring?"

"Would have fared better with the Normandy," the Russian Admiral smirked.

"Sorry about that," Shepard replied with a slight sarcasm. After the famous snap inspection of the Normandy by Mikhailovich he and Shepard always verbally sparred whenever they crossed each other's paths. "Trust me; the crew did everything to save her."

Mikhailovich's face became serious. "I'm not blaming you or the crew, Shepard. Hell, you even went down with the ship like a proper captain. You're all heroes in my book."

Hackett smiled inwardly. Mikhailovich might be a stubborn xenophobic prick, but he was also a man born in a long line of military officers. Naval traditions and officer's honor were everything to him.

Shepard's lip curved slightly and she nodded to the Rear Admiral.

"You know that after that stunt you pulled on Ilos," Mikhailovich continued. "I petitioned the High Command to begin construction of another Normandy class ship?"

"Really?" Shepard asked and turned to Hackett. "And what was the answer?"

"We approved," Hackett relied and crossed his arms. "However we are still waiting for the politicians to give us the money."

"Which I think is a blessing now," Mikhailovich said and leaned forward. "I recently received reports on your new ship. Would have been interesting to see her."

"Oh, you wouldn't like her, Rear Admiral, trust me," Shepard said. "It's even more overpriced then the previous one. Let me only mention that my own quarters are four times bigger than the ones on the old Normandy. And we have a bar."

Mikhailovich whistled.

Shepard turned to look at Captain Feng. "I'm sorry sir I'm afraid we are not acquainted. Staff Commander Shepard of the Normandy SR-2. Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel Council."

"Captain Syao Feng. System Alliance Internal Security," the Captain replied evenly.

"Internal Security you say," the Commander said and looked at Hackett. "You weren't talking about me, were you?"

"As a matter of fact Commander, we did. Feng here was informing us of your most recent activities," Hackett said. "Some of them are a little disturbing. He said that you started a prison riot on the prison ship Purgatory which led to its destruction. And after that you opened fire on the escape pods."

Shepard frowned. "What escape pods?" she seemed to be lost in thoughts for a moment. "Wait, you mean the shuttle I destroyed?" Shepard looked up and started talking to someone. "EDI, add the last combat log transcript to the attached files I'm going to send."

Shepard turned back to Hackett. "That shuttle was destroyed because I had information that it carried a dangerous convict. I offered him to surrender and he refused. The combat log will confirm it."

"That doesn't explain why you started the riot," Feng asked Shepard.

"It was a backwash from my attempts to escape captivity of the Blue Suns," Shepard replied.

"Why were they trying to capture you," Hackett asked.

"I think that Captain Feng here might know better," Shepard said and crossed her arms. "It seems that I have a bounty on my head posted by the Shadow Broker. As to why, I have no idea."

Admiral Hackett turned to Feng. "Did you know about this Captain?"

For the first time the spy looked uncomfortable. "Yes sir, we had such intelligence."

Hackett exhaled slowly. "And the reason I was not informed of this?"

"Or any other member of the High Command?" Mikhailovich asked.

"It was our assessment that it was not an important matter," Feng replied. "The bounty was posted right after the Staff Commander's death. The most logical assumption was that it was some private person with a weird fetish who posted this bounty and used the Shadow Broker as an intermediary. Our colleagues from the STG and C-sec agreed with this."

"Then you were all wrong, start the investigation anew," Hackett said and turned his attention to Shepard. "Thank you for setting things straight Commander. Don't worry, we will get to the bottom of this Shadow Broker business."

"I appreciate this, Admiral," Shepard said. "Now to the point of my call. Lo and behold for I have come bearing gifts. Prepare the secure channel to receive data package."

Hackett looked at Captain Feng who immediately started to talk to into his com device. Feng nodded and the Admiral addressed Shepard.

"We're ready. Begin transfer."

The progress bar on the officer's terminals started to fill. When the download completed, Hackett started to shuffle through files. Most of them were blueprints and scans.

"All right Shepard, what am I looking at? Is this some sort prototype weapon?" The Admiral asked.

"Not a prototype. It's a scans of the…" Shepard looked down at something. "Stygies pattern high-powered laser anti-personnel weapon. Or hotshot lasgun. Or simply lasgun."

"You telling us this is a personal laser weapon," Mikhailovich asked. "Impossible! We all know because of the infraction the power needs for such weapons would be..."

"Enormous and this would make such weapon impractical. Yeah, I know the theory but this weapon is different," Shepard interrupted the Rear Admiral. "One of my crew members already mentioned that this laser technology is far more superior to our own. One of the major differences is that it was developed without any influence from mass effect technology."

Hackett looked at the schematics. He was not R&D scientist; he couldn't understand most of the specifics of the blueprints. But as an Admiral he knew the potential of such weapon. He also knew that humanity didn't even make any major research in the sphere of laser weaponry. It was always considered more logical to develop more powerful mass accelerators than waste funds on a project that might yield little result.

"I know that we have nothing of the kind, Shepard so the next logical question would be: who made this?" Hackett asked the Commander. "Is this an alien tech? I know that you're investigating the Collectors now. Did they make this?"

"I have yet to confront the Collectors directly, Admiral," Shepard replied as she shook her head. "But this is not an alien technology. Believe it or not, this was actually made by humans."

"Cerberus invented this?" Mikhailovich queried.

Once again Shepard shook her head. "As advanced as Cerberus is, they too didn't do it."

"Then who did?" Feng asked a little impatiently. "The last major human faction would be part of the Terminus Systems but trust me; they don't even have the facilities for such research."

"The Terminus Systems didn't do it either," the Commander said and sighed. "Look, I don't want to keep you all in suspense but I really don't want to reveal the source of this tech. Not now at least."

"Why?" Hackett asked her.

"You'll call me batshit crazy if I do. Like you did with the Reaper threat," Shepard said with a slight edge in her voice. "Let's just say that the owner of this weapon was courteous enough to share it with the rest of us."

"Fair enough Shepard," Hackett told her with a nod.

"Also, the owner of the weapon mentioned that this laser technology is universal. If you scale the specs up or down and add an appropriate power source the strength of the weapon would change accordingly," Shepard continued. "Make it cannon sized and you'll get an excellent antitank and antiaircraft weapon. Make it even bigger and you'll get and awesome ship grade weapon, not just a GARDIAN laser but an actual battle cannon."

Both Hackett and Mikhailovich exchanged glances. The Commander seemed to read their thoughts. "You were both there, Admirals. You remember that our weapons could not break through Sovereign's kinetic barriers. And you both remember how quickly he was defeated once the barriers were down. With our ships armed with these laser guns the Reapers' shields would be almost useless."

Mikhailovich looked at Shepard. "I see that you still believe in those 'Reapers'."

Shepard frowned. "Rear Admiral, I'd be more than happy to believe that the Reapers are just a fancy myth but unfortunately it is not so. And the sooner you realize the truth the better."

Mikhailovich decided to remain silent.

"This will greatly benefit the Alliance Shepard," Hackett said. "Thank you."

"No problem sir. I have but one condition," the Commander stated.

"Name it Commander," the Admiral queried.

"The first batch of weapons you produce? I want it. At least fifty guns."

"It would take some time to test the weapon's efficiency..." Mikhailovich began.

"Oh you should not worry about that," Shepard interrupted him. "I added the recordings from my and my team's hardsuit cameras on Purgatory. The effect the weapon has is clearly shown. As for the weapon's reliability the Cap... the owner claims that it served him for almost eleven years."

"This is ridiculous. You're saying that this technology is eleven years old and we knew nothing about it?" Feng asked incredulously.

"Well, the weapon is eleven years old. The technology is a little older than that," the Commander answered with a shrug. "Look it's complicated. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. There are schematics of another two weapons in the files which are even more bizarre. I'm not even asking you to try and reproduce them because even understanding of their principles would be a blessing. As for the lasgun? Look at the video, it will give you all the evidence you need."

"Fair enough, Shepard," Hackett said. "If this weapon is already tried and tested, we only have to figure it out how to produce them. We will contact you as soon as we have working guns ready."

"I appreciate it Admiral," the Commander said with a slight bow.

"No Shepard, it's us who appreciate it," the Admiral replied. "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

Shepard sighed. "Could you please start preparing for the Reaper's invasion? No, you couldn't. Not without a 'tangible proof'. So I'm going to look for that proof once again. But only after I deal with the Collectors. As soon as I have some intel I'll forward it to you."

"Wait Shepard," the Admiral stopped her from cutting the line. "I know you feel abandoned by the Alliance..."

Shepard's lips curved upwards and she held up her hands. "You don't have to say anything, sir. What's done is done. Cerberus rebuilt me and I must say I enjoy being alive. But I didn't betray the Alliance or the Citadel Council. Make no mistake of that and tell everyone who thinks otherwise."

"I will Commander. Trust me, you still have friends in the Alliance," Hackett promised her. He then gave her a crisp salute. Mikhailovich quickly followed and then Feng saluted reluctantly. "Good luck out there Shepard."

Shepard saluted and then her holographic image faded.

Hackett started to copy the data Shepard sent on the OSD. He put his high security encryption on the data so that only High Command level officers could gain access. He then gave the OSD to Captain Feng.

"Get this to the R&D ASAP, Captain. And start working on this Shadow Broker bounty business. I want some tangible report on my desk in forty eight hours."

"Aye, aye sir," Feng replied as he put the OSD into his case.

"Good, dismissed," the Admiral finished.

When Feng departed, Hackett turned to Mikhailovich.

"So Alex, what do you think of all this," he asked the Rear Admiral.

"I don't know Steve. Some of Admirals would still call her a traitor for not returning to the Alliance," Mikhailovich scratched his stubble. "Although, if traitors these days give away fantastic military technologies, I'd say give us more traitors."

Hackett chuckled. "What about the Reapers. You know how persistent Shepard is - she might just find that evidence we ask for so much. What are we going to say then?"

"Sorry Shepard, we were wrong and were right? Wait, we already used that line two years ago," the Rear Admiral said sarcastically and sighed heavily. "Honestly I still cling to the hope that the Reapers are not real because I'm actually afraid of the alternative. But we should do something in any case. Even if Sovereign was a geth ship who says they haven't built a couple of other in these two years. And what have we done in this time? Finished one dreadnought and constructed five cruisers? That's a 'huge' achievement."

"Let's hope this new laser tech will prove as good a Shepard claims. Then we might at least retrofit our current ships and get a little edge against the geth or Reapers or whatever." Hackett said.

"The politicians are not going to increase our budget," Mikhailovich noted. "Those pigs are going to fight for every spare credit."

"Who says anything about increasing the budget?" the Admiral asked.

Mikhailovich turned to his superior. "I can feel that you already have a plan."

"The plan is simple: put on hold all ship construction. What use are new ships with old guns?" Hackett explained. "Then we use the spare funds to upgrade our current ships."

"We'll need to do it discreetly or else the aliens will think we want to start a new arms race," Mikhailovich mused. "Ah! We could use the extraordinary maintenance checks for this. Say, for example, that a new line of climate controllers have a production flaw and we need to replace them."

"Yes that sounds like plan," Hackett nodded. "Let's just hope that the eggheads from R&D are as good as the pay they get."

**Location: Normandy SR-2, Communications room.**

Victoria exited the Comm. room and headed down the mess hall. The talk with Hackett and company went better then she expected and if everything goes went she and her team would be soon armed with the most advanced weapons in the Galaxy.

It was the next day after the mission on Purgatory. Shepard made sure she visited her new recruit down in the engineering. She found Jack skimming through the Cerberus files and plotting her revenge. Their talk didn't last long. Jack was sort of person who didn't get along with people and was actually proud of it. Victoria knew she and Jack are not going to be friends. There can only be some sort of mutual respect between them. Victoria decided to leave it that way.

It was dinner time when Shepard entered the mess hall. She walked to Gardner to grab her ration when suddenly she noticed that Gallardi was among those who sat at the common table. The Captain usually ate in his cabin but now he must have decided to mingle with the rest of the crew. Victoria grabbed her plate and took her place at the head of the table.

The crew was chatting between themselves although some of them were throwing glances towards the big Imperial. Both Goldstein and Patel were whispering to each other probably discussing Gallardi. The next moment Kelly entered the mess and her face lit up when she the Captain siting among the crew. Victoria knew that the counselor in Chambers immediately sensed an opportunity to ask Gallardi all sorts of questions. Kelly dashed towards Gardner to grab her plate and take a place by Gallardi but she was beaten to it by Zaeed.

And it was actually Zaeed who first addressed the Captain.

"So Gallardi, what's your story?" Zaeed asked the man as he began to chew on his food.

Gallardi looked up at the old bounty hunter. "Massani, is that correct?"

"Yeah, that's me," Zaeed replied.

"A pleasure," Gallardi said with a nod. "I'm afraid I don't understand your question."

"Don't give me that! I bet there's quite a story behind that arm of yours," Zaeed said and pointed to the Captain cybernetic arm.

Gallardi raised his left arm and flexed his fingers a little. "Yeah, that was quite a story."

The table immediately became quieter. It seemed that everyone was eager to hear some stories from another universe.

"So what was it?" Massani pressed on. "An explosion? You stepped on a mine or something?"

Gallardi seemed lost inside himself for a moment. "Pincers," was all he said and continued to eat.

"Pincers?" Zaeed asked, sounding surprised. "What some alien crab cut of your arm and legs or something?"

"No, a daemonette," Gallardi replied evenly.

"And by daemonette you mean some kind of alien?" Miranda asked from her seat.

"No, I mean exactly what I mean," the Captain replied and stopped eating. "It's one of the lesser daemons of Chaos the heretics use."

"You mean like the stuff from religious books and anime?" Kasumi asked. "Like horns, fire breath and sulfur smell?"

"Close but the daemonettes are little different," Gallardi explained. "They usually look as naked women with hooves and either pincers or talons instead of arms. They are hellishly fast and use their allure to daze soldiers and give them pause while the daemonettes get close and start killing."

"But how are these 'heretics' create them?" Miranda queried, ever the cynic. "Is this some sort of genetic mutation? Are those things vat grown to be used as shock troopers?"

"No, of course not," Gallardi said shaking his head. "Remember I told you about Immaterium?"

"That's something the psykers are able to manipulate with their abilities?" Victoria asked, remembering the term Gallardi used when he explained about the psykers.

"Correct, the psyker or the eldar might explain the nature of the Immaterium or simply the Warp better. I'll try to tell you everything I know," the Captain said and took a deep breath. "Essentially the Warp is an alternative dimension that exist parallel to the material universe we inhabit. The main distinction is that Immaterium, as its name states, is not a material dimension. The laws of physics do not work there, time moves differently. Humanity uses this trait to travel between stars and send astropatic messages. Our ships leave the material universe and enter the warp during travel. They reach their destinations in far less time it takes to traverse the same distance using conventional engines. Most of the time."

"Most of the time?" Mordin asked looking up from his omni-tool. "Warp travel is not safe? What is the rate of failed transfers?"

"Yes, warp travel is perilous. Sometimes the ships arrived on the predicted schedule, but their crews were found dead; died of old age," Gallardi elaborated. "There are other times when ships arrive a couple of years prior to the beginning of their journey. And sometimes they don't arrive at all. They get lost in the warp and fall prey to its denizens."

"The Warp is inhabited?" Victoria asked.

"Yes. It is the home to daemons and other malign predators," the Captain answered. "The Warp is both Imperium's curse and a blessing – we don't have the Mass Relays, there are no other means of travelling between the planets. Without the Immaterium the Imperium would collapse."

"Heretics perform arcane rituals to summon daemons to fight at their side," Gallardi continued. "While daemons in their pure form cannot exist in the material universe for a long time, the short period they do have is enough to cause significant damage."

"Why don't you use them in return?" Miranda asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" the Captain asked her.

"Well if these heretics are able to perform these rituals, you only need to study them and use their own weapon against them," Miranda answered nonchalantly.

"We don't use them because these rituals require blood sacrifice most of the time," Gallardi said, clenching his fists. "I have seen altars where pregnant women were crucified and their unborn children were cut out of their mothers' wombs and strangled with their own umbilical cords. Tell me Lawson, would you do something like that."

Blood drained from Miranda's face. "N-no, of course not," she muttered and looked down, suddenly very interested in the contents of her plate.

Dead silence settled across the mess.

"What kind of monsters would do such a thing?" Dr Chakwas asked in a horrified tone.

"Yeah right. I mean those heretics must be really fucked up in their heads to resort to something like that," Jacob stated, his voice is full of disgust.

Gallardi shrugged. "The heretics worship the powers of Chaos. Sanity is something you rarely see amongst them. They will stop at nothing to destroy the Imperium."

"I thought that the heretics were just the people who didn't agree with your mainstream religion," Shepard said. "I didn't know it was more complicated than that."

"Yeah, it is," Gallardi said quietly.

"So, you got wounded while fighting these daemonettes?" Zaeed returned everyone's attention to the original story.

"Yes, during the cleansing of Cadia. I was a Lieutenant then…" Gallardi continued his story. He spent some time explaining the significance of the world Cadia that was located somewhere in the region Victoria knew as the Outer Council Space. It was a so called fortress world that stood vigil on the only navigable path from some kind of big Warp anomaly called the Eye of Terror.

"Didn't mean to interrupt but must ask for elaboration," Mordin said as he made notes in his omni tool. The topic of Immaterium clearly interested him. "You are saying that this Eye of Terror is the place where both Warp and material universe exist in the same time?"

"Yes something like that," Gallardi said. "Can't say more on the topic, it's a little above my pay grade."

"Yes, yes I understand. Not your area of expertise," Mordin nodded. "But why these heretics have to use this path through the Cadian Gate. You said they have a certain mastery over the inhabitants of the Immaterium."

"They do but I guess their control stretches only so far," the Captain as he rubbed his chin. "You can learn to fly through crosswinds and turbulence but you can do little against the hurricane."

Mordin nodded. "Good analogy. Yes, makes perfect sense," he said and made another notes in his omni tool. "Again, sorry for interruption. Do continue."

"As I said it was during the Thirteenth Black Crusade the heretics managed to finally achieve what they tried to do for almost ten thousand years – get a stronghold on the surface of Cadia," the Captain continued. "They destroyed several Kasrs, the fortress cities of Cadia but in the end they lost the war. Their fleet in orbit was defeated but the sizeable portion of their forces still remained on the planet's surface. It took several decades to completely clear them out."

"Our unit was deployed as part of the last campaign to cleanse Cadia completely," Gallardi told them. "As a rapidly deploying unit we were supposed crack the heretics' defenses and allow the Cadian Shock Regiments to clear the last occupied Kasr. Things went wrong before we deployed. Heretics somehow got lucky and lead a successful counterattack on one of the loyal Kasrs. Instead of deploying as an offensive unit we were ordered to drop down and reinforce the defenders of beleaguered Kasr. We deployed in good order, made good defensible positions repelled several waves of heretics. That was when they decided to send demons at us."

Gallardi closed his eyes and once again clenched his fists. "We tried to retreat in good order but the daemonettes were too fast. The command squad got surrounded and slaughtered. I suddenly found myself in command of the remaining regiment. Before the unit's morale dropped below ground I led the successful counterattack and retrieved both the regiment's standard and colonel's power sword. Then we pulled back and dug in around the entrance to one of the Kasr's bunkers. It was our no retreat position because the bunker was filled with the Cadia's most precious resource."

"What resource?" Victoria asked him.

"There is only one resource on Cadia – Cadians. The most strong-willed and disciplined guardsmen in the Imperium. The bunker was filled with women and children. And while even women on Cadia are capable soldiers, we still needed to protect them with our lives," the Captain elaborated. "And we did. The casualties were enormous but neither daemon nor heretic made it into the bunker. I found myself surrounded by several daemonettes. Managed to kill five or six before one of them cut off my left arm. Those things probably decided to torture me before they killed me. I lost consciousness when they cut off my second leg."

Gallardi shuddered slightly at the memories. "Later my men told me that it was the Astartes who delivered us – they deployed from orbit almost on top of us. One of my Sergeants managed to cauterize my wounds with my power sword. While I was laying in the hospital the High Command promoted me to Captain and decided to give me new legs and arm instead of writing me off as a war invalid. That was also when I received the silver skull on my helmet – the Warden of Cadia," Gallardi chuckled. "First non-Cadian to ever receive such commendation."

"I call bullshit," suddenly came the Jack's voice. Victoria looked up and saw the convict leaning against the wall near the entrance to the mess hall. "You should write a book, big guy. You'll make a killing as a fantasy author."

Gallardi looked at her for moment and then shrugged and returned to his food.

"I haven't told you yet Jack. This is Captain August Gallardi," Shepard decided to clear something for the young biotic, who was not present when both Gallardi and Maeteris joined the crew. "He and the eldar you saw earlier are… Well, not exactly from this Universe."

Jack snorted. "And you believed them? Right and I'm an asari matriarch in disguise."

"I know that it's hard to believe but they have enough evidence to prove it," Shepard insisted. "Gallardi's weapons and cybernetics are too advanced comparing to our current tech. And the eldar race simply doesn't exist."

"So what? The weapons are probably some kind of the secret government research or some shit. Hell maybe even Cerberus made," Jack persisted. She walked towards Gardner to grab some food. "And the Elf Princess? Fuck, Shepard you should know better. You're fighting these Reaper guys no one else in the Galaxy believes in. Who says her race doesn't hide beyond one of the closed Relays."

"Absolutely illogical assumption," Mordin argued. "The technology is too revolutionary to be created with our current level of science. The research would have taken decades to complete. Nothing remains hidden for so long. The information always leaks. Always," Mordin inhaled deeply and continued. "Also the Relays. Simply ridiculous. All relay activations are seen through the Citadel Control. The last unsanctioned activation of the Relay led to the First Contact War."

Jack looked at salarian and just shrugged. "I still smell bullshit. Come on people, the dude tells you about demons and shit and you're buying it? I know I don't."

Shepard was about to argue more when the door to Maeteris' cabin opened.

* * *

><p>Jack was looking at the assembled crew when she saw a sudden change in everyone's expressions. As if she suddenly grew a second head.<p>

"What?" she asked the people and then she felt it herself. She didn't hear anyone approach her but rather felt a presence at the back of her mind. She turned around sharply and found herself looking at someone's chin. She looked up and saw the tall elf or eldar or whatever this chick was called. Jack briefly wondered about the woman's tats around her eyes. Maybe she should get herself something similar. Without tears of course. Jack knew she was too hardcore for tears.

"What's your problem, Maypole?" Jack asked the eldar.

The eldar stared at her for a moment

"You know that he speaks there truth," she stated in cold singsong voice. "Why do you refuse to believe it?"

Jack was lost for a moment. "_How the fuck does she know?_" she thought to herself. Jack indeed knew that Skullface spoke the truth. She knew it in her gut. It was a trait she developed while running around the Galaxy and it rarely failed her. But what this Gallardi said was simply too insane to believe in.

Jack suddenly felt an icy touch on her brain. As if someone was rummaging through her head.

"Ah, you believe only in the things you see yourself," the eldar suddenly said and the icy presence in Jack's head retreated. "You wish to see the truth? Very well."

"What?" was all Jack managed before the strange alien placed her hand on Jack's forehead.

Jack had seen many things in her life. Bad things.

Jack survived a lot of bad things. The Cerberus lab still gave her nightmares.

But Jack was no longer afraid. She no longer whimpered or cried. Not until this moment.

What she saw was terrifying. So terrifying that for the first time in several years Jack screamed in terror.

The link between her and the eldar broke and the flood of images stopped. Jack reflectively activated her biotics and sent a powerful biotic push that should have sent the damn alien across the room and through the wall. But instead of seeing the eldar flying, Jack herself was thrown backwards.

She landed on her butt and immediately struggled to get up. Once she looked up on the eldar she could only stare and blink stupidly.

The eldar stood there with slightly outstretched hand and a sphere of biotic energy floating peacefully in before her. Then she gracefully moved her fingers in a dismissive gesture and the sphere dissipated.

"What is it Mon-Keigh?" eldar asked in haughty tone. "The truth is too much for you to handle?"

* * *

><p>Everyone in the mess was too stunned to act at first. Victoria knew that Jack was powerful and that her push should have sent Maeteris right into the gunnery station but the Farseer hasn't moved an inch.<p>

Shepard looked down at the sprawled biotic who was still lying on the floor. For the first time since they met Jack was nothing like a hardcore biotic bitch that only several hours ago demolished half of the prison ship. Now she looked completely uncertain on what to do next.

Shepard got out of her chair and bent down to check on the young woman.

"Jack, are you alright?" Victoria asked the biotic. "Talk to me Jack."

"Fuck… I… Fuck!" was all Jack managed as she stared at Maeteris.

"What did you just do, xenos?" Shepard heard as Gallardi stood up and walked towards the Farseer.

"I merely showed her the truth," Maeteris answered evenly.

"What truth?" Gallardi asked her.

"The same truth you and I spent most of our lives fighting," the Farseer said and looked down at Jack.

Gallardi relaxed a little and also looked at still dazed biotic. Then he looked back at eldar.

"There was no need for this," the Captain told Maeteris.

"Oh, as a matter of fact there was," the Farseer said while still looking at Jack.

"What do you mean," Victoria asked her.

Maeteris looked at Shepard. "Commander Shepard, Captain Gallardi. I need you come and see me once you finish here. There is a serious issue we need to address."

Then the eldar turned around and walked back into her cabin and closed the door. Victoria glanced at Gallardi but he looked similarly confused and just shrugged. Shepard returned her attention to Jack.

"Come on Jack, get up," Shepard said as she helped the young woman to her feet.

Jack stumbled a couple of times as Victoria led her to sit on one of the chairs. People huddled around the table and started to murmur quietly.

"Make way people," Dr Chakwas said as she approached Jack and started to examine her. Jack immediately started to protest.

"Fuck, I'm fine, get off me!" the biotic said as she batted the doctor's hands away. "The fuck just happened? What was that?"

"The eldar must have given you part of her memories," Gallardi mused. "Psykers can do that."

"That was her memories?" Jack asked and rubbed her face. "Shit."

"What did you saw, Jack?" Kelly asked.

"I… fuck, my heads killing me," Jack muttered.

Shepard turned to Gardner. "Sergeant, glass and bottle. Now."

Gardner started to rummage through his shelves. He produced a bottle of whiskey and a glass tossed both to Victoria who deftly caught both. Shepard filled the glass almost to the brim and placed it before Jack.

"Drink it," Victoria ordered the young biotic. "To the bottom."

Jack grabbed the glass, her hands shaking a little. She drank the whiskey in several gulps, spilling a little on herself and then groaned loudly, resting the glass against her forehead.

"Now Jack, tell us," Shepard told her calmly. "What did you see?"

Jack looked at the people around her.

"He was telling the truth, you know," Jack began. "Dammit, I thought I saw some bad shit in my life. There were these people… Soldiers like Skullface here but different. They were dressed in torn and dirty uniform and they were fucked up. I mean seriously fucked up. Some had too many eyes or scales instead of skin. Some had fucking tentacles where their arms were supposed to be."

Everyone present turned to look at Gallardi for an elaboration.

"Mutants," the Captain explained. "Prolonged direct exposure to the Warp and the Powers of Chaos changes people. Both in body and mind."

"Is Immaterium radioactive?" Mordin asked as he continued to make notes.

Gallardi shook his head. "No amount of radiation or industrial pollution can change people like the taint of Chaos does."

Mordin silently nodded and made another note. Once again everyone focused on Jack.

"There were also other humans… At least I think they were humans." Jack continued. She grabbed the whiskey bottle and took a swig. "They were huge dudes in massive armor and horned helmets. They had these barbed axes and their arms were covered in blood. Fuck! Sometimes their whole armor was covered in blood and gore."

"Traitor Space Marines," Gallardi elaborated immediately.

"You mean these heretics have their version of Space Marines," Jacob asked him.

"Yes they do," the Captain answered. "Else our duty would have been much easier."

"I thought Jacob said that you called the Space Marines the Emperor's chosen," Victoria queried.

"They were. Once," Gallardi answered. "At the dawn of the Imperium when the Emperor led the Great Crusade to unify most of the human worlds, the Astartes were more numerous. There were Legions of them. Each Legion was led by a Primarch who were the Emperors best creations – the best warriors and strategists, true masters of warfare. The most powerful amongst them was Horus. Horus was seduced by the powers of Chaos and turned on the Emperor. Half of the Primarchs supported him. That time is remembered as the Horus Heresy."

Gallardi looked around and saw that everyone was waiting for him to continue. He shook his head.

"That's story for another time. Let's just say that the traitors eventually lost and their remnants retreated to the Eye of Terror," the Captain continued his explanation. "From there they lead their assaults on the Imperium for over ten thousand years."

"Wait, you saying that the Traitor Marines Jack saw are the same ones who betrayed your Emperor during the... "Horus Heresy", is that correct?" Miranda asked.

"It is our belief, yes," Gallardi nodded. "I already said that the Eye of Terror is where Warp and Materium exist at the same time."

"And the time works differently in the Warp," Mordin finished. "It might have been ten thousand years for you but not for them."

The wave of whispers went through the assembled crowd. Shepard once again heard Jack take a swig and groan. Once again all eyes settled on the convict.

"The last thing I saw were... those things. Daemons I think," Jack continued quietly. "Some looked like the ones you described - sometimes naked chicks, sometimes half-chicks half-dudes. Others were with horn and fire breath. And there were these fucked up bloated pieces of shit with legs. Fuck, it felt so real I thought I could actually smell those things' stink."

"The daemons come in many forms," the Captain said. "It all depends on the... aspect or a particular Dark God whose names I would not dare to mention."

The mess hall was silent for a moment.

"Fuck, It's like you came from seriously fucked up fantasy world or some shit," Jack finished. She then stood up, grabbed a bottle and moved towards the elevator. "Damn, I need a rest."

Shepard briefly wandered if she should follow Jack and talk with her about the whole mess, but decided against it. Jack was not the person to share their troubles with others. She was one of those who overcame their troubles on their own.

"All right people, its business as usual," Victoria told her crew with a clap of hands. The crew started to leave the mess hall, all returning to their assigned duties. Shepard looked at the door to the eldar's cabin and then turned to look at Gallardi. "Shall we?"

Gallardi nodded. "Yes, let's find out what this was all about."

As they entered Maeteris was sitting near her desk and was sorting through some sort of runic symbols. She didn't raise her head as she began to speak.

"Good, you've come," the Farseer said and motioned to her bed. "Take a seat if you wish."

Victoria walked towards the bed and took a sat while Gallardi remained standing.

"You said there was an issue you needed to address," Shepard began. "What is it? Is it about Jack?"

"Indeed it is," Maeteris said as she turned her head to look at both her visitors. "Something about her nature has become apparent to me. I felt it during our first meeting and dismissed it at first, thinking that it was just a side effect of her using her biotic powers. But now I'm certain."

"Certain about what?" Gallardi asked, crossing his arms. "What is wrong with her?"

"Or there are a lot of thing not right about her," Maeteris replied as she returned to the process of sorting her runes. "There is a reason she is such a powerful biotic. I don't know what exactly your human kin did to her in the past only that it was painful. So painful that the pain turned her into something more than just human."

The Farseer once again turned to look at both of them and declared ominously. "She is what you humans call a latent psyker."

Victoria turned to look at the Captain and saw him tense and uncross his hands.

"What does it mean," Shepard asked uncertainly.

"The latent psyker is a person who has not fully manifested her psychic potential," Gallardi explained. "Some degree of conditioning and training would be required for latents to achieve their full power."

"You mean that Jack can become someone like..." Victoria looked at Maeteris. "Well, someone like you?"

The eldar chuckled. "Oh no. Nothing nearly like me. But with some training she can become far more powerful. At least for a human."

"Wait a moment. I just remembered that we have one enormous problem," Gallardi said. "Jack isn't a sanctioned psyker. That means she is dangerous."

"What do you mean 'not sanctioned'?" Shepard looked back at him. "Not sanctioned by whom?"

The Captain sighed. "I'm not the right person to ask about the whole process. All I know is that Imperium rounds up every psyker it discovers, who are not worshipers of the Dark Gods and aren't too insane. Those psykers are placed on the Inquisitions' Black Ships and delivered directly to Holy Terra to undergo the ritual of soul binding to the Emperor. I don't know what exactly happens but those who survive the ordeal are considered sanctioned."

"The ritual is quiet simple actually," Maeteris offered from her seat. "For a moment your psyker become one with your Emperor and share his pain and suffering. Those who survive reach their full psychic potential and are actually prepared to face most of the horrors of the Warp."

"How do you know that?" Gallardi asked her incredulously.

"Believe it or not, Craftworld Ulthwe had dealings with one of your so-called Navigator Houses, Belisarius" the Farseer explained. "One of the Navigators once visited the ship I was on and we spoke a little. He explained me the principle of the soul binding."

Gallardi looked furious about this revelation. Maeteris looked at him and said. "Do not fret so much. They never compromised the security of your Imperium. It was mostly a trade relationship."

"So you say," the Captain replied, not entirely convinced.

"Correct me if I got this wrong," Shepard intervened. "In order to get to her full potential, Jack needs to link her soul to one of your Emperors"

"There is only one Emperor," Gallardi said.

"What?" Victoria asked.

"There is only one Emperor, Shepard," Gallardi repeated.

"Wait, you said that the Imperium existed for ten thousand years." Shepard told him.

"Correct."

"And now you say that there is only one Emperor?" Victoria continued.

"Yes," Gallardi said evenly.

"How?"

"Remember how I mentioned the Horus Heresy earlier today?" the Captain asked her. Victoria nodded. "In the end the Emperor defeated Horus but was mortally wounded himself. In order to preserve the Imperium He made a tremendous sacrifice and entombed himself into Golden Throne. It's not just a place to sit, it's a life support device that insures that the Emperor may never truly die. It also channels the Emperor's will to feed the Astronomican."

"And the Astronomican is..?" Shepard asked him.

"It's an enormous psychic beacon the Navigators use to orient themselves in the Warp," Gallardi explained. "Without it, interstellar travel and communications would be almost impossible. If the impossible happens and the Emperor..." the Captain stopped as if the next word was an anathema to him. "The worlds of the Imperium would be cut off from one another. Then the Imperium would collapse. Trillions of people would perish."

Shepard was stunned from such information. "Incredible. The Emperor suffers for ten thousand years so that the humanity may live. That's just... I don't think that there are words to express it," Victoria managed and then remembered something. "You know Captain some things are actually make sense. You once said that 'the Emperor protects' as if you revered him as a god."

"That is because He is one," Gallardi said and made as sign with his hands that looked like a double headed eagle he wore on his uniform. Then he continued. "He ascended to godhood when He made His sacrifice."

"Yeah, I can see that," Shepard said in quiet awe.

They sat in silence for a moment. It was Maeteris who broke the lull in conversation.

"As prominent as your Emperor's deeds are, we still need to return to the matter of the young psyker in our midst."

"What happens if she doesn't go through the ritual?" Shepard asked. "If we just leave things like they are now?"

Maeteris shrugged slightly. "At first? Nothing. For some time she will remain quiet stable. But soon she will begin to suffer from neural degradation. After that the most likely outcome would be insanity. Also she would be vulnerable to the denizens of the warp."

"You're saying that those demons Gallardi told us about... that they exist here too?" Victoria said, a little horrified at the thought. As if the Reapers were not enough.

"No, not exactly," Maeteris said in calming voice. "The Warp here is different - calm and much less inhabited. As ironic as it sounds, you should probably thank the Reapers for that. But that does not mean there is nothing out there."

"Then what are our options?" Gallardi asked. "Obviously we cannot perform soul binding as there is no Golden Throne here."

"Sane human psykers existed before soul binding," the Farseer answered. "Your Emperor is the most obvious example. I can only speculate but perhaps it was some sort of strong personal experience they had that shaped them. Some kind of mental or physical trauma."

"There were stories when people who got struck by lightning or went through apparent death developed some strange traits," Shepard mused.

"That is a good example," Maeteris nodded.

"But you said she already suffered at the hands of someone that actually turned her into latent psyker in the first place," Victoria said. "Was that not enough?"

Maeteris looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps not. Perhaps now when she is older she needs to relive those memories. It would have been best if we could return her to the place where it all happened."

"Jack mentioned that she escaped from this organization called Cerberus," Gallardi offered.

"Miranda might know if the facility where Jack was still exists," Victoria agreed.

"Then that would be our best chance," Maeteris stated. "I too will meditate on the place's location."

"Then it's settled," Shepard said and sighed. "Thank you, both of you. I don't know how I would have handled this if you didn't show up."

"You would have found the way," Gallardi assured her. "Your deeds speak clearly of your resourcefulness."

With that Gallardi and Shepard left the eldar to her divinations.

In the mess hall Shepard moved to the Gardner's place to make herself a cup of tea.

"Too much information for just one day," Shepard groaned. "EDI?"

"Yes, Commander?" the AI asked.

"Could you please ask Miranda to meet me in the mess?" Victoria asked as she sat at the table.

"Officer Lawson is on her way," EDI replied a moment later.

"Great, thanks," Shepard said and sipped her tea.

A moment later Miranda joined them at the table.

"You called me, Shepard?"

"Yes, Miranda. Did you manage to get some information on the project Jack was part of?" Victoria asked.

Miranda sighed. "The Illusive Man forwarded very little information. Only that it was a cell that made research of the ways to increase biotic potential. Then it went rogue and facility was closed down, its remaining assets transferred somewhere else."

"Does the lab still exist?" Shepard queried.

"No information, but one thing is certain is that there is no report of its destruction either," Miranda replied. "I'll look for more information later."

"Good," Victoria nodded. "That will be all. Thank you Miranda."

"Commander," Miranda said and left the table.

"She mentioned someone called Illusive Man," Gallardi asked Shepard. "Who is he?"

Victoria looked up from her cup. "He's the leader of Cerberus."

"I take it that is his alias," the Captain said. "Does he have some real name?"

"No one knows. He hides his identity well."

"Hm, strange," Gallardi mused.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"I read about this Cerberus," the Captain answered. "This organization has largely the same principles as the Imperium but is considered illegal by most of humanity. And now you say that its leader hides his identity like some criminal."

"Maybe he is just cautious," Victoria offered.

"There is pretty distinct line between caution and cowardice," the Captain said.

"Not for him, it seems," Shepard said. She finished her tea and stood up. "Right Gallardi, if there is nothing else I'm going up to CIC."

Gallardi stood up too. "I'll get back to my... studies. There are still a lot of things I have to cover."

"Good," Victoria nodded. "Later Captain."

"Commander," Gallardi replied and went to his cabin.

Five minutes later Shepard was near the Galaxy Map. Kelly informed her that there were no new messages for her and Victoria decided to check on Joker in the cockpit. The pilot turned around in his chair when she approached.

"So Commander... That was some pretty crazy stuff the Cap said in the mess hall," Joker said. He probably heard and seen everything through the ships surveillance.

"You actually don't know the half of it," Victoria told him.

"How so?" the pilot asked.

Shepard shook her head. "It's probably best that Gallardi tells everyone himself."

"O-okay fine. Oh, and our resident oracle?" Joker switched to Maeteris. "I thought that Jack was going to send her flying but she just stood there with a face like 'You said something, mortal?'."

"Trust me Joker, that push Jack sent? It should have snapped her in half," Shepard said. "Makes me wonder just how powerful she really is."

"Yeah, would want to get in her way when she has PMS or something," Joker smirked.

"Joker," Victoria warned him.

"Alright, alright! No lustful thoughts, I get it!" the pilot said, throwing his arms in the air. "Jeez, it's like having my mother on board."

Victoria chuckled. "How long till we get to Korlus?"

"Roughly twenty one hours," Joker reported. "So who are we getting this time?"

"A krogan scientist," Shepard replied.

Joker started to laugh. "Ah that was a good one, Shepard! Where did you come up... Wait, you're serious aren't you?"

"Yep," Victoria replied with a smile.

"Man, this is getting crazier by the minute," the pilot groaned. "Who goes after that? Volus biotic? Elcor infiltration specialist? Good batarian?"

"Don't know," Shepard said. "That's actually our last dossier."

"Hm, remember when people used to say that previous Normandy had an unorthodox crew?" Joker asked. "Wonder what they say now."

"They would probably call this Normandy a floating asylum," Victoria replied.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Before you start the inevitable barrage of questions like Y U MAKE JACK PSYKER? please read my explanation: I made Jack a latent psyker because she sometimes acted in the game as such. First it was when she said she had thoughts like little bugs crawling in and out of her head. Then on Illium: do you remember when the asari Elnora said she didn't kill anyone and Jack said that she was lying. I know it was just a gut feeling but I thought: Hey, why not? It's a fiction after all!_


	8. A story of Warlords and Grunts

_Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, some stuff in real life kept me from writing._

_I want to make an announcement. Well it's more of a spoiler than an announcement. I have been asked repeatedly by several different readers about when are we going to see Maeteris in action. The spoiler is: on the Horizon. There you have it. :)_

_Since there are no more announcements today we shall go straight to the story._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: A story of Warlords and Grunts.<strong>

**Location: Eagle Nebula, Imir System, Orbit of Korlus, Normandy's Com room.**

"Our next mission is to recruit krogan Warlord named Okeer," Victoria announced to in the briefing room. This time Mordin was present. He was still working on the countermeasures, but right now he was waiting for some samples to grow in his lab and said it would take several hours to complete. Enough time to join the next mission.

Also, they were now one person plus - Jack was sitting at the far end of the table. The young biotic looked somewhat pale, as if she didn't sleep well. Victoria could understand why. If Maeteris indeed transferred some of her memories and those memories were as awful as Jack claimed then it made sense that Jack could get nightmares. Shepard could tell. She still had bad dreams from the Prothean visions that beacons forced into her mind.

"Is he anything like Wrex?" Garrus asked. While not exactly friends, Garrus and Wrex had mutual respect for each other.

"I don't think there are many krogan like him," Shepard shook her head. "The dossier says this Okeer is old, old enough to have fought in the Krogan Rebellions. I think it is safe to assume that he has a lot of grudges."

"Familiar with the name. STG had some information on him," Mordin supplied. "Must warn you Shepard. Having him as a part of your crew might spur a conflict with other krogan. Whatever he did must have earned him the hatred of his own people."

"I see," Victoria mused. "Still, the dossier says he might have information on the Collectors and we're short on that one. It's not a time to be picky."

Shepard then turned then to Gallardi. "Captain, I hope you already familiar with the krogan?"

The man leaned back in his chair a little. "Bipedal reptilian creatures renowned for their toughness. Respect strength and aggression. Were able to breed quickly until some sort of bio-weapon called Genophage was used to render their females almost infertile. Somewhat similar to orks in many things except they are more intelligent. Which I think is a blessing for the Imperium."

"There are very few smart krogan," Miranda said. "Your orks can't be less intelligent than the average krogan or they would be semi-sentient. Like vorcha."

"I don't know what vorcha are but the average ork is pretty stupid. They may be cunning but still stupid. They don't even have a proper language: whatever passes for it consists of shouts, hitting on the head and a few cannibalized words from Imperial Low Gothic," Gallardi replied.

"But you said you fought them on several worlds?" Miranda was clearly puzzled. "If they are so stupid, how they can they be a space faring race? The vorcha left their homeworld only because krogan used them as mercenaries. Then they just spread like vermin."

"Well, some of the orks are actually intelligent enough to ether lead warbands or deal with crude but somewhat efficient tech. The latter are called meckboyz," the Captain explained. "They usually build crude ships that orks use to reach asteroids or space hulks. Then they mine out the asteroids and attach engines and then fly somewhere. Upon reaching an inhabited system they just ram the asteroid into the surface. They have their own ships, although most of the time those are commandeered Imperial vessels."

"Ramming an asteroid full of people is not a very sound tactic," Jacob said. "Many of the orks would die. If not all of them."

"The orks don't care about the casualties. They're a sturdy lot and the percentage of survivors of such crashes is actually quite high," Gallardi continued. "They also breed using spores so unless you burn the bodies they can replenish their numbers very quickly."

"Did I hear correctly? Spores?" Mordin asked instantly. Gallardi nodded. "Impossible! Wait, dimensional travel was considered impossible yet clearly have the confirmation of the opposite. Still highly improbable for intelligent life to develop from spore life forms."

"So the thing that we are discussing orks, who are supposed to be some fairytale dudes or some shit does not bother you," Jack asked from her seat. "Fuck, I'd call bullshit if I didn't know better."

"See no reason to distrust Captain as a source of information. So far he provided only truth. Does not have reason to lie. Clearly not a vain person who needs to embellish his own exploits," Mordin replied. "Still, would have been interesting to study samples or at least read a scientific report."

Gallardi reached for the inner pocket of his uniform. "As a matter of fact, today I remembered that I have at least some sort of hard evidence to back my words," he said as he took out some sort of device that looked like a blocky OSD. "Then I remembered that you do not have a compatible cogitator to use it."

"A cogitator?" Miranda asked.

The Captain rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, a force of habit. Cogitator is our term for your computer terminals."

"What is it?" Victoria asked him.

"It's my personal data storage device. Found it while rummaging through my things in the morning. There are some of my reports, some information on several alien species. Mostly anatomy, vulnerabilities and a best way to kill them. Also some history books, mostly military history. And personal things."

"History books?" Shepard asked, her interest piqued.

"Anatomy reports?" Mordin asked in unison. Victoria has never seen a hungry salarian before but Mordin's current expression was probably it. His eyes followed Gallardi's OSD as if it was some precious treasure.

"Can try to create an adapter. If the device has universal port the technology should not be very complex," Mordin muttered. "Would be compatible with most of the terminals and omni-tools."

Gallardi looked at him for a moment. "You still wouldn't be able to read it because it's in Low Gothic."

"What's Low Gothic?" Shepard asked him.

"It's a common language of the Imperium," the Captain replied.

"Wait, I thought English is the common language," Miranda said as she leaned forward a little. "You seem to be very fluent in it."

"What you call English is known as a Harkat to me..." Gallardi said as he explained the language nuisances of the Imperium to everyone present. It seemed that English/Harkat has been just one of Gallardi's homeworld dialects. He said several phrases in Gothic and Victoria remembered him using it on Aite.

"Had it been some other Imperial instead of me you wouldn't have understood him," Gallardi finished.

"Yes, unknown language. Creating a dictionary would be a slow process and you'll have no free time to spend on it," Mordin sighed. "Pity."

"I may have a solution to that, Professor," EDI's avatar popped up.

"EDI?" Shepard asked the AI.

"I had devoted some of my free runtimes to analyze the few phrases Captain Gallardi used on Aite," EDI said. "It appears that this Low Gothic is actually a language with derivatives in several present-day languages. It's an amalgamation of English, Chinese, Russian and probably Spanish, with a large number words and grammatical structures that have most likely evolved into it over time. Also I detect a presence of Arabic dialects but I must have more data to clearly define that. It is safe to assume that at some point of history the mainstream human languages were molded into one dialect to be used as a universal way of communication. It would have taken many centuries for such different languages to become one, which corresponds with the Captain's claim of being from the far future. Thirty nine thousand years is more than enough time for a language such as Low Gothic to appear naturally."

"So, what are you saying EDI?" Victoria asked her once again. Sometimes EDI was a little too thorough in her explanations.

"I can work with digital materials on the Captain's OSD," EDI replied. "Given enough time I can work out the translation software for Low Gothic."

Gallardi fiddled with the device a little before saying. "Well, it's not like there is any secret information there. You may as well try it."

He passed the OSD to Mordin who took it eagerly. "Fascinating, will deal with it after the mission."

"Right, the mission!" Shepard clapped her hands, remembering why they gathered here in the first place. "As far as we know, Okeer is on Korlus working for the Blue Suns, he is performing some kind of research. That's where we come in."

"Since all three of our previous engagements with the Blue Suns turned out to be hostile, we can safely assume that this one would be no different," Victoria continued. She then looked at Massani. "Zaeed, do you know anything about the installation itself?"

"It was used as a scavenging base and a training camp," the old mercenary said and crossed his arms. "This scrap yard is a good place to learn urban warfare and ship boarding tactics."

"So, it means there is going to be a lot of people down there," Shepard concluded.

EDI popped up once again. "Commander I have been analyzing the Blue suns movements and revealed something interesting. According to the biometric readings I detect several krogan lifesigns along with the ones common for the Blue Suns; batarian, human and turian. The krogan appear to be fighting the Blue Suns."

"Blood Pack? Here to try and take over the facility?" Garrus suggested.

"I do not detect any Blood Pack ships in the system, Officer Vakarian. Except us there is only one frigate and two freighters in orbit, all bearing the Quarian Flotilla signatures," EDI replied. "Also, upon further analysis of the krogan movements I can say that they all came from inside the main facility."

"Hm, probably has something to do with Okeer's research," Mordin mused. "Most likely trying to breed an army of cloned krogan. Not nearly as efficient as the real ones but if done correctly can still be very useful. Probably released the several samples to determine the best pattern."

"So basically they are using their own war camp as a testing ground," Gallardi said. "We can strike them now and use their fight as a distraction."

"Which I think is exactly is what we are going to do. Full complement, two fire-teams. Miranda, Mordin, Garrus and Zaeed you're with me. Gallardi? You're in charge of the second fire team: Jacob, Kasumi and Jack. We will deploy at the base's outer perimeter and then force our way into the compound. EDI will scramble their communications," Shepard finished and looked around the table. "Any questions?"

Several people looked questioningly at the door as if expecting Maeteris to show up any moment.

"I take it we do not get our dose of prophesies this time," Garrus smirked.

"No, we don't. After the last mission the Farseer was courteous enough to remind me that we were supposed to be the best of the best. That we should actually rely on our training and instincts and not on somebody telling us who is hiding behind the next corner," Victoria said. She wondered if Maeteris would join them for the briefing but apparently the eldar decided not to. At least not this time. Shepard was also uncomfortable with the idea of ordering around someone who was fifty times her senior. "Right, if there are no questions, let's wrap this up. Double check your equipment. We meet in the cargo bay in thirty minutes."

It took a little more time since Victoria had to convince Jack to actually wear some armor because no matter how powerful her biotics are, they are not going to protect her from natural hazards. Jack argued at first but then grudgingly agreed to wear a simple gray light armor which she promised to paint "all sorts of badass shit" once they get back.

The team loaded into the Kodiak and a moment after they were underway.

* * *

><p>Gallardi looked around his fire-team. This was another test from Shepard - to see if he was also a competent leader since he held essentially the same rank as Shepard. August didn't mind this at all because he would have probably done the same in her position.<p>

He looked at Jack closely. The newfound latent psyker was fidgeting in her new armor trying to make last adjustments. The generic size light armor was a little bit too big for diminutive woman. She also looked tired, but when Shepard asked her earlier if Jack was all right and whether she wanted to sit this one out, Jack refused. She said that they had a deal and since Shepard kept her end of the bargain, she too was going to keep her word. It seemed that even unrepentant sometimes had their own twisted code of honor.

"Gallardi!" suddenly came Shepard's voice and August turned to look at the Commander.

"EDI had plotted two parallel courses for us to reach the main facility," Shepard told him as she looked at her omni-tool. "I'm sending you your route. We are going to leapfrog with each other and if one team gets bottled up another one will flank the obstruction and relieve them. Alright?"

August activated his omni-tool. He was already familiar with the strange device - it was the size of his auspex but with the functionality of a cogitator. It also had many other useful functions like the ability make field repairs to your armor and weapons, hacking through security locks etc. Gallardi haven't mastered those but was very intent to do it later. He briefly wondered whether the techpriests, if they were present here, would've allowed soldiers like August to use such devices or declare that only full members of the Machine Cult could handle the omni-tools. The latter was more probable.

The omni-tool showed him the map of the operational area and several waypoints that formed his fire-team's route. He looked back at Shepard and nodded. "Received and understood, Commander."

"Excellent. Your team is going first, drop in five minutes," Shepard told him. "Good luck."

Gallardi looked back at his team. "Alright team. You're all grown people here and I believe you've seen enough action so I'll keep it simple. Taylor and Jack? You're moving with me, weapons free. Everyone who is a krogan or wears Blue Suns armor is considered hostile."

He then looked at the hooded figure of Kasumi. "Goto? Judging by that cloaking suit, I assume your main specialization is stealth," August saw the woman nod. "Good, you'll be our forward recon. You're going to report on the enemy's positions and numbers. You're free to engage any hostile if it will not alert others. Other than that you're to remain hidden and engage only on my command. Is that clear?"

"Got it, Cap!" Kasumi replied cheerfully and smiled from under her hood.

"Damn, you military dudes sure love your speeches," Jack groaned. "Makes my head hurt."

August resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "If that was too complex for you, Jack I'll give you an even simpler version - you stay to my right and slightly behind, use your powers on every Blue Sun or krogan you see. If you decide to charge at someone just shout us some warning before you do. Can you do that?"

Jack smirked. "Fuck yeah I can. Just point where, boss."

"Good," Gallardi said and turned to Jacob. "You know the drill, Taylor?"

"Keep in formation than hit hard and fast once you give the order," Jacob replied. "Did I get it right?"

"Absolutely," August nodded and checked the time. "Two minutes. Get ready."

He then bowed his head and started to mutter the Fede Imperialis under his breath.

_A spiritu dominatus,  
>Domine, libra nos.<br>From the lightning and the tempest,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>From plague, deceit, temptation and war,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>From the scourge of the Kraken,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>From the blasphemy of the Fallen,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>From the begetting of daemons,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>From the curse of the mutant,  
>Our Emperor, deliver us.<br>A morte perpetua,  
>Domine, libra nos.<em>

_That thou wouldst bring them only death, _  
><em>That thou shouldst spare none, <em>  
><em>That thou shouldst pardon none, <em>  
><em>We beseech thee, destroy them.<em>

Some of the words didn't sound quite right at the moment because he was fighting with aliens at his side. Still, the familiar words brought comfort to him as they did many times before. He made a sign of the Aquila and started to check his weapon once again.

"You're what, religious or something?" Jack suddenly asked him.

"Or something," Gallardi replied, not really interested to have a debate on the matters of faith before combat.

Jack just shrugged and turned her attention to her shotgun.

"Approaching drop point one," the pilot's voice came from the speakers.

"Stand ready!" Gallardi ordered and rose. He turned and steadily approached the shuttle's door, gripping a hand rail overhead. Jacob was to his left, Kasumi and Jack behind them.

The door opened and Gallardi saw that the shuttle was hovering no higher than half a meter above the ground.

"Go!" He ordered and jumped out of the shuttle. He dashed forward looking for cover and heard the footsteps of his teammates as they followed him out of the shuttle. The shuttle's engines whined louder and the transport left to drop its cargo on another drop zone.

The team spread out in good order and began to scan the horizon. Seeing no immediate danger Gallardi relaxed and got his full view of Korlus' landscape for the first time.

All around him were the rusty remains of different ships. All matter of sizes and configurations, some probably alien. The whole planet's surface was like giant space hulk but with open sky overhead.

"Well, if there is a technological hell for Mechanicus it's probably somewhere here," August murmured to himself.

"What was it, Captain?" Jacob asked to Gallardi's left.

August shook his head and replied. "Nothing important," he replied and turned to Kasumi. "Alright Goto, you're up."

The woman gave him a mock salute and dashed forward, activating her stealth suit in the process. August waited for a couple of minutes before motioning his team to follow him. They advanced through several junctions without incident when suddenly a woman's voice blared from powerful speakers somewhere in the distance.

"_There is only one measure of success: kill or be killed! Perfection is your goal!"_

"I already hate that person," Jack declared acidly.

Gallardi reached for his combead. "Shepard, this is Gallardi, come in. Are you deployed?"

The combead crackled and Shepard's voice came through. "We're in position, just took out first checkpoint. Before you ask, yes, we heard. Probably the base's commander. Also be advised, Zaeed patches us into the Blue Suns' network. Get ready to hear their transmissions."

"Understood Commander. We're advancing towards the objective. Gallardi out"

August shut down his com and continued to move forward. Soon they stumbled upon two dead Blue Suns. One was shot through the head and another had a deep stab wound in his throat. "_Kasumi must have taken care of them" _August thought to himself. A couple of minutes later Kasumi reported on an enemy checkpoint and six Blue Suns guard it. The team advanced further and took the unsuspecting Blue Suns completely by surprise. Combined biotics of Jack and Jacob plus Gallardi's lasgun killed five mercs before they even managed to return fire. The last merc managed to dive into cover and was about to report to his superiors about the attack when Kasumi materialized near him and shot him in the head with her Phalanx from point blank range.

"Nice job, Goto," Gallardi said as he approached the thief.

"No problem," Kasumi replied. "There is something I heard from them while waiting for you. It seems that this is no ordinary testing of cloned krogan, this time they were released in mass and the mercs are hard pressed to contain them. They also say that the surveillance system went offline recently."

"Did it? Hm, let's see," August mused as he tapped his combead. "Shepard this is Gallardi. Come in Shepard."

"Go ahead, Captain," Shepard replied.

"I have information that we might have an inside helper," Gallardi told her and relayed his recent findings.

"I believe you are correct, we too have an intel of the massed krogan release," the Commander told him. "We even met several. One was… surprisingly friendly. This cannot be said about his friends. The friendly one confirmed that they are vat-grown, and most were released with a purpose of fighting everything they see except other krogan. Whoever released them has made us rather dubious gift: while they're fighting the Blue Suns, we'll have to fight through them in order to get into the main facility. So be advised, Gallardi."

"I understand, Commander. We will continue our advance," August said. "Gallardi out."

He nodded to Kasumi and she once again moved ahead activating her stealth suit. They moved through several checkpoints, easily overpowering the disorganized Blue Suns. Judging by the comm. traffic the mercs already understood that something was wrong and it was not only a krogan release they were dealing with.

"Cap, this is Kasumi. Come in," Her voice was barely a whisper in Gallardi's ear.

"Is there a problem Goto?" August asked her sensing that there is a reason she is whispering.

"I'm right at the next junction, and there're krogan here," Kasumi told him. «Five, maybe six I can't get a clear count. I don't want to get closer because they can actually smell me even in stealth."

"Stay in position, we're coming in," Gallardi told her and looked at the rest of his team. "You all heard that. You're ready?"

"Hell yeah," Jacked grinned. "Let's get those big fuckers!"

"Just give the word, sir," Jacob said determinately.

They stormed into the next room. The closest krogan to them fell quickly under concentrated fire. The team took the available cover as other krogan returned fire and started to get closer to their position as most of them were armed with shotguns. Gallardi loosed a couple of shots at one and saw that while their heavy armor eventually melted, it was ineffective. He switched to high powered shots. The effect was much more gratifying. He killed one with two shots in the head. Then another one, who was flying in the air because of Jacobs biotics. Third one was killed by Jack who first sent a powerful biotic blast at the krogan and then slammed into the wall. Yellow blood spurted from him like he was a ripe fruit that got firmly squeezed. The krogan slumped to the ground and never got up.

The last one bellowed some kind of challenge and started firing at Jack wildly but suddenly looked down at the blinking object on his chest, which seemed to appear out of nowhere. When August saw Kasumi reappearance in the closest cover he understood that the blinking object was in fact a grenade the woman slapped to krogan's chest. The grenade exploded and the krogan flew backwards, missing half of his head.

When no more fire came, Gallardi rose from cover to scan the surrounding area but immediately dived back as he saw the last krogan appear. And this one carried something that looked like a grenade launcher. August's cover exploded and the blast sent him flying. When he struggled to stand up and bring his weapon about he saw that his rifle was not with him and it was laying several paces ahead.

Gallardi tried to reach for the weapon but saw another grenade flying and quickly got to cover. Heard more explosions and saw his team pinned under the xenos' barrage. August's hands reached for his other weapons and his hand landed on the grip of his saber. He quickly thought about similarities between orks and krogan and decided to see if there was another thing these aliens shared. He unsheathed his sword and stood up clearly displaying the weapon.

The krogan turned and aimed his weapon at Gallardi but didn't fire as he stared at the Captains challenging pose. August pressed the activating rune on the saber and the power field flashed into life. The alien's mouth widened displaying a row of huge teeth. He bellowed in his guttural voice, shaking his grenade launcher over his head and then the krogan charged.

"For the Emperor!" Gallardi shouted and dashed forward. Inwardly he thanked all the saints that krogan as well as orks seemed to share an obsession with challenges and melee combat.

August of course had no intention of meeting the huge xenos head on. Once he got close enough he dived down and brought his saber in horizontal slash. The krogan was not expecting this and had no way of blocking the blow. Gallardi landed his strike on the krogan's hip joint. The relic power weapon sliced through the soft part of alien's hardsuit and through the alien's flesh as if it was made of paper. The krogan's leg was severed completely and the alien fell on his face. August turned to face the fallen xenos once again and saw that the krogan managed to roll on his back, desperately trying to stand up. Gallardi brought up his sword to deliver a killing blow. The krogan bellowed defiantly as the blade descended towards his face, silencing him forever. August rotated the blade inside the krogan, then tugged it out and placed it back into its sheath.

"If I'm going to tell someone I'm working with a dead Commander Shepard, people probably going to believe me" Jacob said as he approached Gallardi. "But if I tell that a human killed a krogan with a sword, most will laugh at my face."

Jack also approached the krogan's corpse and after a moment picked up the aliens leg. She examined the place of the cut and sniffed it, scrunching her face in disgust. "Blech! Fried lizard legs, anyone?"

Gallardi and Jacob chuckled. Kasumi also approached the group, carrying Gallardi's lasgun with both hands. "I do hope they can make lighter versions of these. This is just not my size."

"Thank you Goto," August said as he took the weapon from her. He then checked the map on his omni tool. "We are getting close to the objective. Alright people let's go."

* * *

><p>Shepard's team fought its way towards the lab where Okeer was supposed to be, if the merc she spared earlier was to be believed. Judging by the radio exchange, most of the Blue Suns were either dead or running somewhere safe. Jedore, the Blue Suns commander was still shouting orders through the loudspeakers but it was unknown whether she understood that there was probably no one to follow those orders.<p>

They opened the door to another room and Victoria understood that they must have finally reached the lab, judging by the various pieces of research equipment lying around. Victoria was about to move to the next door when she caught a glimpse of movement behind the desk. She brought up her weapon.

"Get out now. Slowly," Shepard ordered to whoever was hiding.

"Promise you will not shoot," came a worried feminine voice that somehow sounded familiar.

"Get out slowly with your hands raised and you will not be harmed," Victoria promised.

"O-O-Okay," the woman said and revealed herself. She was an asari dressed in the lab coat and her face was vaguely familiar. "Um, hi Shepard."

"I'm sorry, do I…" Shepard was going to ask when her memory suddenly clicked. "Wait a second. Rana? From Virmire?"

The asari's posture eased immediately. "Oh, you remember me? I recognized you immediately when I saw your face on the cameras. I shut down the surveillance system straight after that."

"One moment, Rana how did you survived the blast?" Shepard asked the scientist. "I mean it was a nuclear blast after all."

"I managed to override a service drone and rode it to a safe distance." Rana explained. "I… heard that you lost a man in the blast. For what it's worth, I'm sorry he didn't make it."

Shepard briefly thought about Alenko. Even though it was now almost two years after his noble sacrifice it was still an open wound for Victoria. She still couldn't shake a feeling that she should have done something…

Shepard sighed. "I appreciate it Rana. The responsible already paid for it. Still what are you doing here? Are you working with Okeer?"

"I do! I create the mental imprints for Okeer's test subjects," Rana told her. "It allows us to implant knowledge directly into the krogan's brains so that we can grow them full-size with all the required knowledge and not waste time on teaching them."

"You're helping him create an army of krogan?" Shepard asked Rana carefully.

"Army? Oh, no-no-no! That's not the purpose of this facility," Rana exclaimed, raising her hands in denial. "Well, Jedore thinks it is. She's on a power trip and thinks that Okeer is creating obedient krogan warriors for her private army, but in fact he is giving her rejects of his original project."

"What is the original project?" Mordin asked curiously.

Rana looked at him. "He tries to create a pure krogan. One that is free of the Genophage. All these krogan he created are just failed templates. I know, Okeer's methods seem extreme but he genuinely wants to help his people."

"Was he successful?" Shepard asked.

"I can't say for sure, I only managed the learning programs," the asari shrugged. "But Okeer was very agitated about the last subject. Maybe he finally managed to do it."

"I see," Victoria pointed to the door that led further into the lab. "He is through there?"

"Yes," Rana said and picked up a small bag from the desk. "It was good to see you Shepard but if you don't mind, I'm gonna run like hell before you blow up this place or something. I know how you work."

"That might be for the best," Shepard smirked before adding. "Oh and for the love of everything that is holy, when we meet next time, and something tells me that we will, do try to work on some peaceful research. Like breeding fishes."

The asari looked back while continuing to walk. "I'll try, Commander. But with my luck I will end up working on intelligent killer fishes."

Then Rana turned to look forward only collide with Gallardi, whose team finally caught up with Shepard's. The asari stumbled back and landed ungracefully on her backside. Gallardi looked down at the alien woman and immediately tensed up, bringing his gun up.

"It's okay, Captain. She is friendly," Shepard told him.

The Captain relaxed and lowered his weapon. Rana smiled meekly as she looked up at him and rubbed her forehead.

Uncomfortable pause occurred and at first Victoria could not understand why. Then it hit her: most of the people would have offered Rana a hand to help her get up because it was a polite thing to do. But Gallardi looked as if he was locked in some internal struggle with his deep-rooted xenophobic beliefs. For him the asari was not a woman but an alien and therefore an enemy. He looked up at everyone, as if seeking some advice on how to proceed and then reluctantly offered his hand to Rana. Oblivious to the man's discomfort, Rana beamed an even bigger smile for him and eagerly grabbed his hand, hauling herself up.

"Thank you," the asari told him. Gallardi nodded briefly and took a small step back, obviously nervous to be this close to an alien. Rana bent down and picked up her back. "Well, I'm off. Good luck to you all."

The scientist walked down the corridor but then looked back at the big Imperial, once again not bothering to look where she was going. This resulted in her tripping over something on the floor. Rana fell a second time with a squeal and a loud bang.

"I'm fine, don't mind me!" The asari shouted as she quickly picked herself up and finally left.

"I think the squidhead's got the hots for you, big guy," Jack said with a smirk. "You should have asked for her number."

Gallardi looked at biotic and shuddered slightly as if she offered him something disgusting.

"What?" Jack asked him, but the Captain already moved towards Shepard.

"Everything alright?" Victoria asked Gallardi. Then she saw that part of his armor was slightly singed. The man must have caught her gaze as he answered her next unasked question.

"Everything is fine, you should see the other guy," Gallardi replied evenly.

"You really should!" Kasumi said excitingly. "That was stuff for the movies. He cut off the krogan's leg with a single swing from his saber! And then killed him with second strike."

"Kind of sucked, really," Jack added. "I was hoping there would have been more blood. But instead, that sword of his cauterizes the wounds so it was all clean and neat. Boring."

"Hm, effective against krogan," Mordin muttered to himself. "Burnt wounds slow krogan regeneration."

"Alright, we can swap war stories once this is over," Shepard brought everyone's attention back to the mission. "Let's go get our newest team member and go home."

Victoria approached the door that led to Okeer's lab and opened it. There she saw a large krogan standing before a tank that also contained a krogan, although the last one looked... younger probably. He lacked both trademark krogan headplate and a hump on his back. Also contrary to his older counterpart, who was wearing heavy armor, the younger krogan was stark naked. To Shepard's slight relief krogan, reptilians in nature, had their reproductive organs hidden inside their bodies. Which was fine with Shepard - krogan genitalia was not something she wanted to see when she woke up today.

The older krogan was undoubtedly Okeer. He was more withered and scarred than Wrex or Patriarch and those were the oldest krogan Victoria ever met. Okeer was typing something on a terminal connected to the tank which looked fun with krogan stubby fingers. He looked at Shepard when she approached him.

"There you are, finally," Okeer rumbled in his low voice. "I have watched your progress. You took your sweet time dealing with those idiotic mercs. The batteries on this tank would not hold infinitely."

Victoria narrowed her eyes slightly. She already didn't like this Okeer. "You're not worried that we might be here because we want you dead?"

"If you wanted me dead, you would have shot me as you entered this room. And then you would have nuked this facility," Okeer said as he turned to face Shepard. "Just like you did on Virmire."

Victoria wondered how he knew about that. That operation was supposed to be top secret.

As if reading her thoughts, Okeer smiled, revealing a row of huge yellow teeth. "Surprised I know, Spectre Agent Shepard. Rana was kind enough to tell me the story," Okeer said and spread his arms. "Such a tale! Saren, the Spectre traitor, threatens the return of the krogan horde by curing the Genophage. Undoing the gentle genocide of the turians and salarians," the krogan said and glared at Garrus and Mordin before returning his gaze towards Victoria. "But before Saren can deliver his endless army of krogan troops, in rides Shepard, securing the victory for the rest of the Galaxy through nuclear fire. I like that part. It has weight."

Victoria crossed her arms. "You didn't sound very angry at me for possible destruction of krogan future."

"That is because I approve. Saren's pale horde were not true krogan. It is a mistake all non-krogan are destined to make. Everyone seems to think that it is numbers that make krogan great when it is not," Okeer told her. " Jedore is no different. I gave her the rejects of my project and she was content for some time but not anymore. I guess she figured out I was not very honest with her. It is time that you get me out of here."

"Whether you're going with us or not is up for debate," Shepard told him. Her dislike for this particular krogan was growing by the minute, especially now when he seems to think that he was in charge. "We heard you dealt with Collectors in the past. We want whatever information you have."

"I see. Yes, the Collectors attacks on human colonies have increased. My dealings with them were focused elsewhere," the krogan warlord approached the tank and placed his hands on the glass. "I have acquired the technology to create this one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored."

"Your search for a perfect soldier created many 'failures'," Victoria said with an edge in her voice. "Don't you care about them?"

"I failed no one, my rejects are exactly what Jedore asked for," Okeer replied. "They are strong and healthy and utterly useless to me. Jedore simply lacks the ability to command them."

"I want perfection. If a few thousand are rejected, so be it. My work will purify the krogan. We will not be restored - we will be renewed," Okeer said as he once again lost himself in pathos. Shepard had a feeling that the krogan warlord really liked the sound of his own voice. "We will not need the numbers. My soldier is a template. It is a greater threat than all the phantom siblings that would have been at its flank. The galaxy still bears the scars of the horde. But it will learn to fear the lance."

"Enough already," Victoria groaned. Okeer was completely obsessed with his research and it had little to do with the reason Shepard looked for him. "Back to the Collectors. Do you have any useful information or not."

Okeer turned to look at her. "They are strange. So isolated, yet very available when your price is big enough. I gave them many krogan."

The krogan made several steps towards Shepard. "Perhaps we can strike a deal, Spectre Shepard. One that secures my prototype. It is the key."

Before Victoria could come up with any kind of reply the doors to the lab closed and locked.

"_Attention everyone. I have traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course_," Jedore 's voice came from the loudspeakers. "_I'm calling a 'blank slate' on this project. Gas these commandoes and start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!_"

"Seal up!" Shepard ordered automatically. Everyone except Okeer immediately sealed their helmets. The krogan stomped towards the lab's large window and looked down. Victoria followed him and looked through the window. She saw a large cargo hold filled with tanks that probably contained more krogan rejects. A woman in Blue Suns uniform and tech armor was pacing between the tanks and a heavy mech.

"She is that weak willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve!" Okeer said and turned to Victoria. "Shepard! You want the information on the Collectors? Stop her!"

"Why? Let's just get out of here," Shepard asked him. "You made one perfect soldier you can now make another."

"No!" Okeer said as he looked back at the tank. "Too much effort was put into this one. And the Collector's technology I traded was consumed by the prototype. Go! Kill Jedore. I will stay and... do what's necessary."

"Damn it, alright people let's move out," Victoria ordered and the team moved towards the door that led to a stairwell. Kasumi quickly overrode the lock and the team runs down the stairs.

"Be advised everyone," Shepard warned. "She has a yummy mech and God only knows how many krogan rejects. Stay sharp."

Several voices replied her with affirmatives. They entered the cargo hold and immediately scattered from incoming missiles.

"I don't care who you are!" Jedore shouted as she fired another shot from her missile launcher. "I'll kill you all! This is my world! Mine!"

Shepard saw as Jedore fiddled with her omni tool and then the in the room opened and flooded the cargo hold with krogan berserkers.

"Kill them! I command you!" Jedore screeched to the krogan and fired once again with her missile launcher.

"Concentrate fire on the krogan!" Victoria ordered and sent a warp blast into one, partially destroying his armor. She fired several bursts into exposed areas of krogan's body and the alien slumped on the floor. Only to be replaced by another krogan.

The brutish aliens were mostly armed with shotguns that were ineffective at such range but several of them had assault rifles and those were firing wildly, forcing several of Shepard's teammates into cover. There was also a matter of Jedore and her missile launcher but it was quickly resolved. Shepard saw as Zaeed fired several disruptor shots from his sniper rifle and destroyed Jedore's Tech armor. The blast form shield's overload sent the Blue Suns commander staggering. She tried to raise her weapon and fire but suddenly Victoria heard the distinctive muffled sound of Garrus' Mantis. A split second later Jedore jerked back and fell dead.

"Nice shot, Cuttlebone!" Zaeed shouted to turian as he switched back to assault rifle and continued to fire on the incoming krogan.

"Thanks for the help with her shields, Ugly!" Garrus replied back and shot one of the krogan with an assault rifle.

"Keep the krogan at bay!" Victoria ordered. The she saw a lumbering form of YMIR mech appear from behind one of the tanks. "Ah shit, and here comes the heavy!"

The heavy mech sent a missile into their general direction and proceeded to spray the team's positions with its heavy machinegun. Everyone ducked into cover and Shepard cursed under her breath. They needed to take the Heavy now or else it will keep them suppressed, allowing the rest of the krogan to get close and then it will get really ugly.

Victoria placed her Vindicator on her back and switched to her own missile launcher.

"Kasumi, Garrus, Miranda! Take out that bastard's shields!" Shepard ordered and saw as designated team members sent overloads towards the mech. Victoria rose from her cover and managed to send two missiles before ducking back. She heard as the missiles struck home and was about to rise again when she felt the mech's machinegun hammer at her position. The mech recognized her as a major threat and focused on her.

"Somebody get that bastard's attention so I can..." Victoria wasn't able to finish her question as she heard a strange whine and then something shimmering flew through the cargo hold. Shepard heard several explosions and the fire on her position ceased. Victoria looked up and saw the smoldering remains of the mech.

"Um, what just happened?" Shepard asked as she biotic push towards one of the closing krogan.

"Man, I don't know how but I must have the same pistol Gallardi has," Jacob said as he continued firing on the krogan.

"Seconded!" Kasumi's voice came from through the com. She was probably stealthed somewhere behind the line of krogan.

"Thirded!" Miranda shouted as she bioticaly slammed one of the krogan.

"Uh, what's next? Forded?" Jack asked. She sent a shockwave into the mass of the krogan, scattering them around. "Fuck it! I mean I want that shit too!"

"Gallardi?" Victoria asked the Captain through the com.

"It was my plasma pistol, Commander," Gallardi replied and muttered. "Wasted a precious shot."

"A pistol destroyed a heavy mech? With a single shot?" Shepard asked him, slightly awed.

"It was pretty banged up by your missiles," the man reminded her.

"Yeah, but still," Victoria said as she continued to fire on the remaining krogan.

In several minutes all of the krogan rejects were killed or incapacitated because you can never be sure with krogan. Victoria looked back at the window to the Okeer's lab but didn't see the krogan warlord. "_What is he doing up there?_" She thought.

EDI's voice interrupted her musings. "Commander I have accessed the laboratory's sensors. There room is flooded with toxins and Okeer's life signs are falling rapidly. I suggest haste."

"Damn it! Mordin, with me! Quickly!" Victoria shouted and dashed towards the stairs.

As they hacked the entered the lab, Shepard saw the still form of Okeer lying near the console. She approached him and managed to roll the krogan on his back. The alien's mouth was covered in orange froth and his eyes rolled up. Victoria looked up at Mordin but he simply shook his head.

"Damn it, Okeer! Was it so hard to put on a helmet?" Shepard asked rhetorically.

"Would not have helped," Mordin said as he lowered himself and taped on several spots on Okeer's armor. "Armor is very old. Untended. Compromised in many places. Helmet would have made no difference."

Victoria nodded and stood up. She looked at the console and saw that there was a video recording made several minutes ago. Shepard heard the door to the lab opened once again and turned to see the rest of the team file in. She turned back to the console and started the replay of what were most likely Okeer's final moments.

The warlord's face appeared on the screen. "_You gave me time, Shepard. If I knew why the Collectors wanted humans, I would tell you. But everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This… one soldier, this grunt. Perfect…_"

"He discarded hundreds of rejects but sacrificed his life to save one?" Miranda asked aloud.

"You all heard him talk," Shepard replied. "He is... was clearly obsessed with this one."

"Obsessed would be putting it mildly," Jacob remarked.

"His message also says that the damn xenos lied to us. He didn't have any valuable intel for us," Gallardi said with venom in his voice. "All our efforts were for naught."

Victoria eyed the tank that contained a pureblood krogan. "Well we still can salvage something," she mused.

Garrus approached her. "You are thinking about bringing him aboard?"

"Wrex did well with us and a pureblood krogan can pack quite a punch," Shepard mused. "We could always use a heavy hitter."

"The subject may be as unstable as the others," Mordin said as he too approached the tank. "Also, krogan genetically dangerous. Socially dangerous as well. Have enough enemies without adding this. Suggest leaving it."

Victoria looked at the salarian. "Afraid he would render your work on the Genophage obsolete?" She asked jokingly.

"No. Unlikely one krogan, however strong, could have impact Okeer wanted," Mordin replied neutrally. "Almost certain."

"All your concerns are noted," Shepard told them. "We bring him with us."

She then looked around and then looked through the window into the cargo hold now filled with bodies of dead krogan.

"We probably should go down there and scrape up some armor for our krogan," Victoria mused. "Can't have him running around naked until we buy something for him."

"Over here!" Kasumi waved her hand as she rummaged through one of the large cargo boxes. "There is one here. It's shiny. And heavy. Do you think Okeer meant to give this to our baby krogan here as his first birthday gift? That is so sweet of him."

"Well one less trouble for us," Victoria shrugged and activated her com. "Normandy, this is Shepard. Okeer is a no-go, but we have a package that needs retrieval. And here is a big one."

"Roger that Commander," Joker replied.

Victoria turned back to her team. "Miranda, Mordin and Kasumi. I want you to look through all of the available terminals for any scrap of information there might be on the Collectors. Maybe there are some of the Okeer's personal logs where he said how he contacted them and where he made an exchange. Look for anything relevant."

"Will do, Shepard," Miranda said and moved towards Okeer's console. Mordin and Kasumi followed her suit and started to check other terminals.

Shepard looked down at Okeer's corpse thoughtfully. There was a serious question she wanted to ask someone back at the Normandy.

* * *

><p>Maeteris felt the Commander Shepard's displeasure as the woman approached the door to her cabin. At the moment the Farseer was working on the computer terminal that was part of her desk. Crude but functional, as was everything built by humans, the terminal nevertheless served its purpose and allowed Maeteris to access the information about the world she now lived in.<p>

The chime at her door signaled that Shepard was seeking her permission to enter. Maeteris used her terminal to unlock the door and raised to great the human. Shepard was still wearing her armor and had a deep frown on her face.

"How can I help you Commander," Maeteris asked neutrally.

"Did you know it's going to happen?" Shepard asked in return. Straightforward just like all humans.

"If by your question you mean whether I knew of the so called 'krogan scientist's' demise than yes. I saw him die in many ways," the Farseer replied.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shepard asked. "I understand that if you were not present here this would have happened in any case. But you are here and you knew the person we came looking for was going to die. Why not allow us to save him?"

"Because this is where his path ends," Maeteris replied evenly. "You know he didn't have any useful knowledge for you and his actions more than earned him his death. Might I remind you that he sold his own kin into slavery to fuel his research? Would have you liked to have someone like that on your team?"

"Well, no. But we could have saved him and just left him on the planet," Shepard countered. "It's not right to play God and decide on who deserves to die!"

"Is it right to, as you say, play God and decide on who deserves to live?" The eldar asked.

"Everyone deserves the chance to live," the Commander stated.

"Everyone?" Maeteris asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Even the Collectors and the Reapers?"

Shepard was thoughtful for a moment. "That's different."

"How so?" Maeteris pressed.

"The Collectors kidnapped hundreds of thousands of colonists. The Reapers killed untold trillions," the Commander replied. "It's war and we are only defending ourselves."

"So the difference is in the scale of transgression and whether it was directed on your own kin?" Maeteris countered. "This Okeer was guilty of thousands of deaths and ruined lives. True, most of them belonged to his own race. But don't you care about them as well?"

"I do, but..." Shepard lowered her gaze. "If he was destined to die, why didn't you tell us to just leave this place alone in the first place and let Blue Suns kill Okeer for us?"

"You know the answer to that question," Maeteris replied. "You recovered someone from the planet, didn't you?"

"You mean the tank born krogan?" Shepard raised her head once again. "Will he be willing to join us?"

"Only you can make it happen," Maeteris stated.

"Right, use your own head, I remember," Shepard said and rubbed the back of her neck. "Still, not even tiny hint? Pretty please?"

The Farseer smiled slightly at Commander's attitude. "Trust your knowledge of the krogan. It would be sufficient."

"Hm, alright," Shepard said and paused for a moment before continuing. "So correct me if I'm wrong: our purpose on Korlus was not to recruit Okeer but to recruit this tank born?"

"Indeed," Maeteris nodded. "I know it might be confusing to grasp but sometimes we go somewhere with a purpose, sometimes we go somewhere to find one."

"I see," the Commander said. "I have a favor to ask: In the future, if know that someone is going to die, warn me please. Especially if it's going to be someone from our crew. Alright?"

Maeteris felt the old regret from Shepard about failing to save someone called Kaidan Alenko in the past. The images of a hard choice the Commander had to make surfaced in the human's mind.

"Very well, I will not allow members of our team or anyone else significant to die if I can do something about it," the Farseer promised. "But you must understand that even with my gifts, people will die eventually. All we can do is to lessen the losses. And sometimes their death is necessary. I understand that you lost a member of your team in the past. His death was unfortunate and you blame yourself for it. I would not lie to you and say that it was not your fault because to some extent it was. You had to make a choice between saving one life and saving many. I had made many such choices in the past and they were never easy. It is important that you do not allow those deaths to break you. Allow them to drive you to do better in the future. That is my lesson for you."

"I understand," Shepard nodded. "Thank you."

"No need, Commander. That is why I'm here," Maeteris replied with a tilt of her head. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes. It's about Jack," Shepard replied. "She looked a little off today in the morning. Probably because of the lack of sleep."

"That is understandable, the memories I gave her were not pleasant," Maeteris told Shepard. "But she must learn to overcome something as trivial as nightmares because the reality for the psyker will be far worse."

"When are we going to tell her about her condition?" The Commander asked.

Maeteris thought for a moment. "Well I suppose there is no risk in telling her now. I will deal with it since I'm the only expert present here."

"Good. I shall take my leave then," Shepard said with a nod.

"It has been an honor Commander," Maeteris replied.

* * *

><p>Victoria approached the tank with a krogan. She was still wearing her armor and her hand rested on a butt of her Phalanx. She knew that the probability of krogan going berserk was high and decided to be prepared.<p>

"What the status EDI?" Shepard asked aloud as she examined the tank.

"The subject is stable, Commander," The AI reported. "Integration with on-board systems was seamless."

"By stable you of course mean physically?" Victoria asked for elaboration.

"Yes. I do not have enough data to judge his mental condition," EDI replied.

"Very well. Stand by," Shepard said as she made her decision. "I'm going to open the tank and let him out."

"Cerberus protocol is very clear regarding untested alien technology," EDI informed her.

"Well, more reason for to glad that I'm not Cerberus," Shepard responded. "I wouldn't have bothered to bring him aboard if I wanted to leave him like this. He's either a powerful addition to the crew or a time bomb. I'd rather deal with it now."

"Very well, Shepard," EDI complied. "The controls are online. The switch – and consequences – are yours."

"Aren't they always, EDI?" Victoria smirked and tapped twice on the tank's holographic control panel.

The nutrient fluid inside started to drain and the pod started to move into vertical position. Once the fluid finished draining the tank's door opened to eject its occupant. The krogan tried to take one step but lost his footing and fell on his knees. He tried breathing and began coughing out the nutrient fluid that filled his lungs when he was in the tank. Then he stood up full height and stared at Victoria.

For some reason Shepard was not very intimidated by this supposedly perfect krogan. While he was indeed impressive compared to other members of his species, he was smaller than Wrex. And where Wrex was centuries old warrior who survived God only knows how many battles, this young krogan had yet to prove himself.

Therefore when the krogan let out a roar, Victoria stood her ground. Krogan charged her, picked her up before slamming Shepard against the wall and pinning her. Victoria let out a groan and inwardly blessed her foresight of staying in her armor. She looked into the krogan's blue eyes unflinchingly.

"Human. Female. Before you die, I need a name," the krogan rumbled evenly.

Shepard snarled as she answered, "I'm Commander Shepard and I suggest you think before throwing pointless threats around."

"Not your name. Mine," the tank-born krogan told her. "I am trained, I know things, but the tank… Okeer couldn't implant connection. His words are hollow."

The young krogan seemed lost in thoughts for a moment. "Warlord, legacy, grunt… grunt. 'Grunt' was among the last. It has no meaning. It'll do," the huge alien told himself and glared at Victoria. "I am Grunt. If you are worthy of your command, prove your strength and try to destroy me."

"Why do you want me to kill you?" Shepard asked him evenly, keeping her face completely unimpressed. She didn't want to kill him of course but if push came to a shove she was ready to do what is necessary. "_Pull the trigger then biotic throw and then several shots in the head,_" Victoria inwardly reminded herself.

Grunt seemed to be confused by her question as if her response was unexpected. "Want? I do what I am meant to – fight and reveal the strongest. Nothing in the tank ever asked what I want. I feel nothing for Okeer's clan or his enemies. That imprint has failed. He has failed. Without a reason that's mine, one fight is as good as any other." The krogan leaned closer and growled "Might as well start with you."

"So it's a challenge you seek," Victoria asked him. "It is part of krogan nature to seek out greatest challenge after all. Am I correct?"

Grunt nodded in response. "That is what the imprint says."

"How about this: I have a strong ship and a strong crew. A strong krantt," Shepard told him, deliberately using the term she heard from the Patriarch. "We are hunting for a race of aliens called the Collectors. Few ever saw them. More importantly, few ever fought against them."

The last part definitely picked Grunt's interest.

"You can be part of us, if you are as good as you Okeer claims," Victoria continued. "How does that sound to you?"

"If you are weak and choose weak enemies I will have to destroy you," Grunt warned her.

"My current enemies managed to kidnap entire colonies without firing a single shot," Shepard told him. "Their home is located beyond the Omega-4 relay. No one ever returned from there. Does it make them worthy enough?"

Grunt looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmph! That's… acceptable," he said. "I'll fight for you."

"I'm glad you saw reason," Shepard said as she pressed the barrel of her pistol into Grunt's neck, one of the few soft places on krogan body.

"Hmm?" Grunt tried to look down and his chin rested on top of Victoria's pistol. "Ha! Offer one hand, but arm the other. Wise, Shepard. Okeer's implant claims you should be weak but you're clearly not. I like that. I look forward to our battles."

Shepard nodded and lowered her pistol. She pointed to the crate that contained his armor. "We have secured armor for you. I take it you have an imprint that tells you how to put it on?"

Grunt nodded and eagerly opened the crate and started to take out pieces of armor.

* * *

><p>Jack was sitting in her dark corner down in the Engineering as she took another swig from a bottle of liquor she took from the cook. She tried to get wasted before going to sleep because the previous night the damn memories the eldar bitch jammed in her head came back as nightmares and she didn't get decent sleep. Today she was a bit tired from that fight on a junkyard planed and she intended to get some rest even if it meant getting slam-hammered.<p>

She sat at her impromptu desk and stared into the empty room. She took another swig, the bottle obscuring her view for a moment.

When she lowered her bottle the eldar stood in her room as if she appeared out of thin air.

"Fuck!" Jack screamed in surprise. She grabbed her Carnifex and pointed at the alien's head. "What the fuck do you want?"

Maeteris didn't move a muscle when she saw the gun pointed at her head, as if it posed her no threat. Then she looked at the bottle standing on the desk.

"You do understand that it will not help you," the eldar asked in her haughtiest tone.

"If I drink enough, it will knock me out and I'll sleep like a dead man," Jack shrugged weakly.

"And tomorrow you are going to have a… what is it you humans call it? A hangover?" The eldar asked. "It will render you incapable of acting effectively and you will be a liability to this team."

"Then you shouldn't have placed that shit in my head!" Jack growled at her.

"And you should have trusted your feelings and accept the story Gallardi was telling," Maeteris replied patiently. "You knew he was telling the truth and still you mocked him."

"I had a gut feeling he was telling the truth," Jack told the alien. "That doesn't mean I was right."

"It was more than just a gut feeling," the eldar said darkly.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Jack asked.

"What do you remember from the time you spent in captivity when you were young?" Maeteris asked her.

"I remember enough," the biotic replied acidly.

"What matter of research your captors were conducting?" The eldar asked her to elaborate.

"The fuck do you care?" Jack snarled.

Maeteris didn't reply and was simply waiting for an answer.

Jack sighed and scratched her shaved head nervously. "Something about creating a super biotic through different painful means. Apparently, if you push someone hard enough and don't kill them in the process it can increase their biotic potential."

"Was the word psyker ever mentioned?" The alien asked. "Does the word mean something to you?"

"A psyker?" Jack scrunched her face. "I've been called a psycho many times but I guess that is not the same. What's a psyker?"

"It is what you are," Maeteris replied. "Those who tortured you made you into something they don't understand."

The eldar spent nearly an hour explaining the various nuisances about the parallel dimension called the Warp and how these "psykers" could tap into the energies of that realm to do different things varying from mind reading to telekinesis.

"You see, they didn't increase your biotic potential," Maeteris finished. "Your skills are now powered with psychic energies although you do it subconsciously."

"So I can now do what? Control people's minds? Read their thoughts?" Jack queried.

"Only the strongest psykers are capable of controlling other minds and only if those minds are weak," the eldar replied. "As for reading minds, you are already capable of telling whether a person tells a truth or lie. To develop this further you will need to fully unlock your psychic potential."

"Ok, I'll bite. How do I unlock my full potential?" Jack asked.

"If you were an eldar I could have trained and guided you. But you are not. You do not have the years nor the patience required for this," Maeteris told her. "I your case we will probably need a strong catalyst to force you powers to open."

"Where do we get that catalyst?"

"I do not know for certain," the eldar continued. "My guess will be that you will have to return to the place where it all started."

"Right, the Teltin facility," Jack muttered. "I need to think about it."

"That is your choice entirely," Maeteris said and turned to leave.

"Wait, about those memories you stuffed my head with," Jack said. "I'm, like, sorry I didn't believe you, I got the message. Can you, I don't know, get them out?"

The eldar turned back. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because it will serve as a reminder to you where your current path will lead you in the end," Maeteris said ominously.

"What '_my current path_'," Jack asked, clearly confused.

"You revel in pain and destruction. You like to create mayhem and anarchy," the eldar explained. "Eventually you might forfeit your soul to Chaos and then there is no salvation. The powers of Chaos will warp your body and soul and you will become a thrall hell bent on destroying the ordered Universe."

"You're serious about it? You're not just trying to make me 'see the light' or something," Jack asked incredulously.

"If you were a simple person I would care less about how you live your life," Maeteris told her. "But you are a psyker. If the Ruinous Powers get a grip on your soul the damage you can do would be enormous."

"Ok, I get it! Chaos is bad, alright!" Jack said. "So how do I shut those memories out at least?"

"As an eldar I would've advised you to calm your spirit and build a mental barrier," Maeteris looked condescendingly at Jack. "But I guess that would not work for you. The humans from our Universe mostly use such strong emotions like zeal and contempt to battle Chaos. Try using those."

As she said that, the eldar left making no sound as she walked up the stairs. No wonder Jack didn't hear her approach before.

Jack threw another glance at the bottle. "_Zeal and contempt, you say_" she thought to herself. Jack didn't believe in any God so zeal would not work for her either. Contempt on the other hand… She closed her eyes and forced the images of mutants into her mind once again. She didn't like what she saw and had no desire to become one.

Yes, contempt would do the trick.


	9. Vengeance served hot

_Author's note: for all delays blame the Bioware. They have released the Star Wars: The Old Republic and I finally managed to secure myself a working subscription. It's actually first MMORPG I played for more than two weeks. :)_

_Before we begin, I'd like to reply to several anonymous reviews:_

_Axcel:__ Power weapons do cauterize the wounds. It is clearly shown in the novel "The Armor of Contempt" from Gaunt's Ghosts series by Den Abnett. There, Colonel Commissar Gaunt uses his power sword to cut off his snipers leg in order to save him, and then uses the same sword to cauterize the wound._

_Anonymous:__ Don't worry all those things will be mentioned eventually._

_Hellraptor:__ I believe that our current audience could be split into three even parts on this matter. The first part would agree with you on the subject. The second part would scream "Heresy!". And the third part would scream "EXTRA HERESY!" :)_

_That's it for now. Let the story continue._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Vengeance served hot.<strong>

**Location: Ismar Frontier, Faia System, en route to planet Zoria's orbit, Normandy's Com room.**

Victoria looked around the company present in the room. Because they didn't find any intel on the Collector on Korlus and the Illusive Man had yet to provide something, Shepard decided to deal with the mission Zaeed asked her to help with. Not all ground crew was present for the briefing at the moment.

Miranda was busy with some procurement business such as dealing with some upgrades for the Normandy. Jacob has provided them with contacts that can help in acquiring the newest armor plating - the Silaris Armor, just like the one that was used on the Destiny Ascension. Also, Garrus said he had some old contact from his day in the turian military who promised to deliver some of the latest top secret armaments straight from the Hierarchy's R&D department. Now Miranda was busy trying to secure a dry dock that was going to be used for the refit.

Kasumi asked for some free time as she was busy with some preparations for the heist. Mordin was continuing his work on the countermeasures and already informed Victoria that he made good progress.

Jack still looked strained and actually asked for leave this time, promising that she would be ready when the time comes to "kick some serious shit up". Shepard allowed that.

That left Victoria with Jacob, Garrus, Zaeed, Gallardi and her newest crew member - Grunt. All except the young krogan were sitting at the briefing table. Grunt was either standing or eagerly pacing around the room.

Only five team members but Shepard judged it would be more than enough to deal with a bunch of the Blue Suns. Probably overkill, even.

"Since we still don't have any intel on our current enemy's movements, we will deal with some minor issues to keep ourselves busy," Victoria started. "Next mission is provided to us by Mr. Massani's previous employers. Zaeed?"

The old mercenary leaned forward. "We're going to Zoria to liberate Eldfell-Ashland refinery from the Blue Suns. Job's simple: get in, kill all of the Blue Suns and secure the refinery and its personnel. Then the company will pay us good money for this and everybody will be happy."

"We also have a priority target among the merc," Shepard continued. "Vido Santiago, current leader of the Blue Suns. The merc band has been a thorn in our side for some time now so killing their boss is going to be a serious blow to their organization."

"What can we expect in terms of defenses?" Gallardi asked.

"It's a civilian structure so no serious defenses," Victoria replied. "As for the Blue Suns - standard outfit. Mercs and mechs. Maybe a gunship. No krogan like on Korlus. Any other questions?"

"When do we get to kill people?" Grunt asked impatiently.

Shepard looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "When we get ground-side Grunt, not before. The ship is flying at top speed, we get there when we get there, understand? Of course, if Okeer gave you some imprint on how to increase the ship's FTL speed then we're all ears."

"Humph," the krogan replied and continued pacing.

"If there are no other questions, I suggest you check your equipment and start gearing up," Victoria said and rose from her seat. "See you in a shuttle in thirty minutes."

The team started to leave the room. Both Shepard and Gallardi were among the last to leave when suddenly the door to the Tech Lab opened revealing very excited Mordin.

"Captain, glad you're still here!" Mordin said and motioned to follow him. "Managed to create an appropriate adapter and access the OSD. But now need your help with access."

Gallardi looked thoughtful for a moment before he realized something. "Oh, right the DNA scan," the man said as he followed the salarian.

Her curiosity piqued, Victoria followed them. "You use DNA protection for personal OSD's?"

"Personal data storages, or OSDs as you call them, are not very common in the Imperium. Common people usually don't have them, except for the wealthy," Gallardi explained. "Imperial officials who have the OSD, usually have sensitive information on them and therefore require having some kind of protection. Mine was a gift to me from my caretaker once I was sent to Schola. It didn't have any protection at first. When I joined the Inquisition it was a mandatory requirement to make it secure."

"Only a DNA scanner?" Mordin said as he turned and waived his omni-tool in front of Gallardi. The device pinged once and Mordin smiled. "There, all done. EDI? Use the skin flake sample to access the device now."

"The device has accepted Captain's DNA. Accessing files," EDI replied. "It appears some data correlation and formatting will be required to properly view the information. This will take some time."

"Good, good will inform you once this is done," Mordin told Gallardi and returned to work.

"There is also something remarkable I have revealed once trying to access the device," EDI said out loud. "It appears that Imperial cryptographic and ciphering protocols are far more advanced than our own."

"Just how advanced are we talking here?" Victoria asked the AI.

"Extremely," EDI replied. "More advanced than the C-sec encryption or anything Cerberus has."

Shepard's eyes widened at this piece of information. "You mean your OSD is more heavily encrypted then Citadel Security Database? That's the most secure place in the Galaxy!"

Gallardi scratched his chin. "I can't say anything on the matter. The tech adept who installed the protection said it was pretty standard security measure."

"Might have a theory there," Mordin said thoughtfully. "Could be simple technological evolution. Current protection of personal Extranet accounts is more advanced than the protection STG archives had two hundred years ago. What Imperium considers standard, we consider top of the line."

"Could be," Victoria shrugged. "I guess you brought this to our attention for some reason EDI?

"Yes. Now that I have full access to the data on the device I can fully analyze Imperial encryption protocols," EDI replied. "With your permission I would like to implement them in my current software. It will greatly increase the efficiency of my Cyber warfare suites. I can safely assume that I would be able to deflect attacks from geth and even Reapers."

Shepard looked at Gallardi, who simply shrugged at this. "I don't see any reason not to. If it makes us stronger against our enemies than why not?"

"Alright, do it EDI," Victoria told the AI. "If there's nothing else, we should go prepare for the deployment."

Gallardi nodded and left for the armory while Shepard went to the elevator to get into her room and grab her gear. Once she was ready, Shepard went once again entered the elevator and started her descent. She picked up Gallardi on her way down, who said that everyone else was already in the cargo hold.

The elevator then stopped on the Crew deck because someone was probably trying to get into either Engineering or the cargo hold. This was fine with Victoria because she wanted to ask Maeteris whether something terrible was going to happen on Zoria. To her surprise it was the Farseer who stood at the entrance to the lift.

"Oh, Maeteris I was just looking for you," Shepard said as the Farseer entered the elevator and pressed the Engineering button. "You're going to the Engineering? Why? Is something wrong with Jack?"

Maeteris sighed. "Everything is wrong with Jack. She tries to follow my advice on blocking away my memories using her powers and fails so completely, her pathetic attempts are getting on my nerves. She simply cannot grasp the concept of the Warp. I suppose I should give her some guidance if she ever to make any progress."

"I sure she'll appreciate your help," Victoria said and immediately corrected herself. "Well, maybe she would not but I appreciate you helping her. Um... I wanted to..."

"Everything depends on your choices, Commander," the Farseer interrupted Shepard's question, most like knowing what the said question would be. "Trust yourself. Trust the strengths of your companions and you will be triumphant."

The door to the Engineering deck opened. Maeteris stepped out and turned to look at Victoria. "And always remember: it is you who are in command. Not me, not anyone else."

The door closed and the elevator continued to move down to the cargo hold.

"She's right. I should stop doing that," Shepard muttered. "I'm starting to rely on her too much."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Shepard," Gallardi told her. "Even I understand how tempting it is to have a pocket oracle. But she is right we should trust in ourselves. The Emperor does not make us stronger by providing easy challenges."

"Yeah, you're right," Victoria nodded. The door to cargo hold opened revealing the waiting crew near Kodiak. "All right, let's get this over with."

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Normandy's Engineering Deck, lower level.<strong>

Jack sat lazily on the floor trying to do... well, something. Trying to somehow trigger those psychic powers the eldar told her about. She only succeeded in activating her biotics and throwing around things to went her frustration.

She was tired. The nightmares returned last night and she could do little to stop them. She needed to figure out something because those memories made her weak and helpless. And if there was anything Jack hated the most it's being weak and helpless. She tried to build a wall in her head which once again resulted in her creating a biotic barrier.

"Stop it, this is not what you need." The voice of the eldar made Jack jump. Once again the damn alien approached Jack without her noticing it.

"Damn it would it kill you to at least make some noise while walking?" Jack asked as she opened her eyes and looked at the Farseer. "What do you want now?"

"I came here to point you in the right direction," Maeteris told her. "You heard me talking about the Warp before yet you still fail to grasp the idea of it."

"Maybe I would have understood if you were not so cryptic about it," Jack retorted.

Maeteris didn't reply but simply sat in kneeling position on the deck. "Sit," she told Jack.

"Do I really have to sit like you?" Jack asked. She believed that all those 'meditating' positions were all just bullshit.

"You can sit in whatever you feel comfortable," Maeteris replied evenly and Jack simply sat on the floor with her legs bent before her and her head resting on her knees. "Of course, in this position you will not be able to sit for more than an hour before your lower back starts to ache," Maeteris added.

Jack shifted to a cross-legged position. "That's better?"

"Much," the Farseer replied. "Now, your main mistake is that you think that the Warp has anything to do with physical reality. It is not. Your own kin gave it a fitting name - Immaterum, non-material. It is shaped by emotions, feelings and actions of all living creatures. It cannot be seen, touched or tasted by any of your primary five senses. You have to feel it with your spirit."

"O-o-okay, how do I do that?" Jack asked incredulously. "I mean, you do understand that I'm new to this whole shit."

Maeteris sighed. "Since we already established that you have some rudimentary telepathic abilities, that's where we will start. Sit, close your eyes, they are useless to you in this, and try to reach out to those present around the ship. Feel their presence and thoughts."

"Well I suppose..." Jack said and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the sounds around her. She sat like for some time, listening to the hum of the reactor and Mass effect core, the occasional sounds of the engineers walking above her and muffled sounds of their speech. She tried to listen closer but could not make out a single word.

The loud bang of a metal crate falling on the deck nearby nearly made Jack jump out of her skin. Her biotics flared as she opened her eyes, jumped up and prepared to face whoever threw the crate only to find the crate lying on the floor. The eldar was still sitting in the same place and there was a smell of ozone in the air. Jack figured that it was the damn alien who raised the crate with her mind and then dropped it on the floor.

"What the hell was that for?" Jack demanded as she snuffed out her biotics.

"You are still doing it wrong," the Farseer declared with annoyance. "You use your hearing to listen. Your ears are for the physical world, they are deaf to the Warp. Forget about your body, it is just a shell, an anchor for your spirit to exist in."

"You're asking for something impossible!" Jack shouted. "Just listen to yourself: feel something that can't be felt, hear something that can't be heard. This 'Warp' thing may be an obvious thing for you, princess, but I only found out about it a couple of days ago. Give me a break!"

Maeteris sighed even more heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Never thought I'd miss the Imperials. As brutish as they are they at least have some understanding on this matter. So you are saying that it is difficult for you to even imagine the existence of the Warp?"

"Give the chick a fucking gold star! Yes, you are absolutely correct, Your Highness," Jack sneered.

Maeteris seemed to ignore Jack's comments as she rubbed her forehead, lost in thoughts. "Sit," she said after a moment.

As Jack reluctantly returned to her position, the eldar continued. "The air around us? Do you believe in its existence?"

Jack raised her brows at the ridiculous question. "Well duh! We'd be dead if there was no air."

"Yet you cannot see it, cannot taste or touch it. You can smell something in the air if there is a source for it but the air alone has no smell," Maeteris pointed out.

"Well, that's..." Jack began.

"Different? How so?" the Farseer asked.

Jack shrugged. "Well I guess you're right, not so different."

"Close your eyes," the eldar continued. "Try to feel the air around you. Not as something that just should be there and something you breathe. Try to feel it for what it is - a mixture of different gases that fills every free place on this ship. Picture untold billions of tiniest molecules as they fly at great speed and impact on your skin, creating an atmospheric pressure. Picture as it fills your lungs and then passes into your blood stream and courses through your entire body, invigorating your tissues. Absolutely unseen and yet essential part of the majority of living beings."

"Why are we doing this?" Jack asked, as she closed her eyes. "I mean, the air is a physical thing."

"It is, but it will help you broaden your mind. It will make you understand that if you cannot see a thing, it does not mean it's nonexistent," the Farseer explained.

"I guess," Jack said and followed the eldar's advice.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Planet Zoria, outskirts of Eldfell-Ashland refinery facility.<strong>

The team deployed in the jungle and advanced towards the refinery. Once again Zaeed patched them into the Blue Suns communications so Shepard was able to monitor the enemy's movements. Half on the way to the objective they stumbled upon the group of dead workers lying in the jungle. Massani commented that it was definitely Vido's style - to shoot unarmed people in the back and leave to rot.

They passed through one of the checkpoints easily; the few Blue Suns' mercs were no match for Victoria's team. Despite being young and somewhat hotheaded, Grunt actually showed himself a competent fighter. Whether it was because of Okeer's genetic tailoring or Rana's learning programs Shepard could not tell, although she was inclined towards the latter. While Grunt lacked Wrex's biotics and experience he made up for it in sheer tenacity, and the few wounds the krogan suffered during a firefight healed quickly without the use of medigel.

They then reached a river that separated them from the refinery. While they waited for an old retractable bridge to make its way to the other bank, Zaeed told Shepard the full story of what transpired between him and Vido. Victoria stopped herself from asking how the old merc managed to survive the shot in the head, fully understanding that coming from her it would just sound stupid.

Upon approaching the gatehouse, Shepard intercepted the message from commander Santiago. He ordered for all his men to mass at gatehouse Victoria's team was about to storm. Shepard called for a stop.

"You all heard that? There's probably ambush waiting for us beyond the gate," Victoria asked. "Suggestions?"

"Seeking alternative route will give the mercs time to reinforce their positions," Gallardi replied. "I suggest we storm the gatehouse."

Several nods from others said that others agreed with him.

"Alright," Shepard agreed. "Once we enter, spread out and seek all available cover. Let's go."

They entered the gatehouse and immediately scattered into all available cover. No fire came at first although Shepard clearly saw the mercs standing on the gatehouse's higher levels. The next moment she saw Zaeed's nemesis, Vido Santiago, appear among the Blue Suns.

"Zaeed Massani," Vido remarked. "You finally tracked me down."

"Vido," Zaeed muttered and trained his weapon at his former partner.

"Don't be stupid, Massani," Vido warned him. "I have a whole company of bloodthirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command."

Shepard saw Massani eying the pipeline above the enemy's positions. Victoria wondered what he had in mind for Santiago.

Dissatisfied that he didn't get any response from his former colleague, Vido continued to mock Zaeed. "Actually, take your shot. Give my men a reason to put you down like the mad dog you are. _Again_."

The next moment Massani dashed to the left firing wildly at the mercs and not hitting anyone in the process.

"What was that? Gone nearsighted, old friend?" Vido sneered.

"Burn, you son of a bitch," Zaeed snapped, firing at the pipe above Santiago. That caused an explosion that killed a couple of Blue Suns and sent others into disarray.

"You just signed your death warrant, Massani!" Vido shouted as he picked himself up and retreated deeper inside the facility.

The remaining mercs started shooting at the Shepard's team and they returned fire. Amidst the mayhem of the fire fight Victoria heard someone repeatedly hit something metal. She looked to the left and saw as Massani was striking a huge valve with the butt of his rifle, trying to force it to turn. Before Shepard managed to ask him what he was doing, the valve budged and Zaeed rotated it several times. More explosions sounded ahead and Victoria turned to see half of the gatehouse gone and the inner gate hanging loosely on its hinges.

Through the opened gate Shepard saw that half of the refinery was now in flames. Whatever Zaeed did, it caused a chain reaction that set the facility ablaze.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Victoria roared at Zaeed.

"Opening the gate," Zaeed replied nonchalantly.

"This whole place is set on fire! There are still people inside!" Shepard shouted at him.

"I don't care," the old mercenary said. "Let these people burn! It's Vido I'm after and he dies, no matter the cost!"

Shepard wanted nothing more at the moment than to approach Zaeed and to hit him in the face, but a burst of gunfire nearby sent her into cover. Several turians in the Blue Suns armor were charging through the recently opened immediately sent a biotic push scattering the mercs around. Her team returned fire and in a couple of minutes the situation reversed – it was Shepard's turn to lead her teammates' charge through the gate and deeper into the blazing refinery. EDI plotted a course through the facility that will lead them towards the launch pad where Vido's shuttle or gunship was located.

As Shepard was about to enter she heard someone shouting frantically behind her.

"Help! There are people trapped inside the building!" A man pleaded. He was dressed in working coveralls and was covered in soot and grime. "The doors would not open until the fires are out and the fire extinguishing system has failed. They can't restart it from their side!"

Victoria looked at her companions for some advice on how to proceed.

"Shepard, if we help these people Santiago might escape," Garrus told her.

"Screw Santiago," Jacob retorted. "We came here to help these civilians!"

Zaeed glared at the former marine. "I've been gunning down this bastard for twenty years! I'm not going to let him escape again."

Shepard wanted to say just where and how deeply Massani could stuff Vido but there was no time to argue. She needed to make a choice and she needed to do it now. On the one hand she wanted to help the people trapped inside the refinery. On the other hand if Vido escapes, God only knows how many other facilities like this one he was going to raid and how many innocent people will die just like those whose corpses were still lying in the jungle.

_Trust yourself. Trust in the strengths of your companions and you will be triumphant._

The eldar's words came suddenly to Victoria's mind. She looked once again at her team and made the decision.

"I'm going to help them," Victoria stated sternly.

"God damn you Shepard…" Zaeed started to argue.

"Shut it, Massani!" Victoria all but hissed at the merc. She turned to look at the Captain. "Gallardi, you're in charge. Go after Santiago and make sure he doesn't leave this planet alive."

"Consider it done," Gallardi nodded.

"Good," Shepard said and jumped down onto the lower walkway that led deeper into the refinery. She approached the door, overrode the lock and carefully stepped away before opening it. As she expected, a ball of flame erupted from inside the refinery as the opened door let fresh air inside. Victoria took a look inside. The facility looked like hell and it suddenly brought an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu as Shepard remembered her last moments aboard the old Normandy. She pushed the memories aside and sealed her helmet.

"Shepard," Victoria's com crackled as Gallardi's voice came through. She looked behind her and saw the Captain stand on the walkway looking at her.

"Good luck," Gallardi continued. "The Emperor protects."

Victoria nodded and took a step inside the blazing refinery. Somehow she doubted that Gallardi's distant God cared about her existence but as she looked at the hell storm she was about to cross, she muttered under her breath absent-mindedly. "I really hope he does, Gallardi."

* * *

><p>August saw Shepard disappear inside the burning building and turned back to look at his new unexpected charges. He must have impressed the Commander on Korlus since she chose him to lead the rest of the team. Although he also had two xenos among his team now, Gallardi was not about to fail in his duty because of his mistrust of the aliens. Strange as it was he actually trusted those two present, somewhat. So far Vakarian showed himself a competent marksman and loyal to their cause, even though he wasn't human and it wasn't really his fight. As for the krogan, Grunt, Gallardi knew now that he could trust the alien's love for a fight. The huge xenos seemed to care less about everything else.<p>

"All right men, form up," Gallardi ordered and changed the powerpack in his lasgun. "Krogan? You take point. Vakarian, you take the rear guard and provide sniper support. Remember that this is an industrial building so check for sniper fire from the walkway on higher levels."

"We are not doing this for the first time, you know?" Massani grumbled impatiently.

Gallardi rotated on his feet nimbly and used his augmented arm to grab the old merc by the throat and slam him into the nearby wall. Zaeed grunted, dropped his rifle and tried to unclench the Gallardi's iron grip on him but unless he had the strength of an ork, Zaeed was not going to succeed in his endeavor.

Gallardi leaned closer to the mercenary's face. "Listen to me Massani and listen closely. You should be praying to whatever heathen God you worship that we're not in the Imperial Guard or else that stunt you pulled before would have already landed you with 10-49. You know what order 10-49 of the Imperial Guard's Code of rules and regulations means? The Guardsman or a Guard officer is charged with disobedience of their superior's orders or other actions of grave military misconduct that compromised the operation's success. Prescribed punishment is summary execution on the spot by a commissar or any other ranking officer present. Right now I'm the ranking officer. So unless you really want to test me Massani, I suggest you shut up and get in formation. Are we clear on that?"

Zaeed growled in response.

"Are we clear?" Gallardi repeated his question and slide Massani higher up the wall making his feet dangle uselessly.

"Crystal clear," Zaeed replied as the blood started to drain from his face. Gallardi released him and the merc dropped down the floor and started coughing.

August turned to look at the others. He saw approval in both Jacob's and Garrus' faces and even Grunt was grinning savagely.

"We have a job to do, men," Gallardi said as he prepared his weapon. "Let's make it happen."

Garrus moved to override the lock on the door and opened it. Grunt immediately thundered inside, his huge shotgun at the ready. Everyone followed him in. The team proceeded swiftly on the course set by EDI. They encountered small resistance on their way, or at least what Gallardi considered to be small resistance. Having a krogan on their side was a huge advantage as the Blue Suns seem to concentrate their fire on him, allowing the rest of the team to flank the mercs and destroy them quickly. The krogan's armor allowed him to take a lot of punishment and shrug off most of the attacks. For Gallardi it was somehow akin to having a Space Marine lead their assault, although Grunt might have been strong enough he was nowhere as fast and agile as one of the Emperor's finest. August mused that if an Astartes was present here he would have probably carved through the mercenaries all by himself without even taking cover.

They entered some kind of compartment that probably served as a security office in the facility, judging by the presence of various displays that showed different parts of the refinery. Two turians were left guarding it but they were killed instantly by August's and Garrus' precise shooting. As the team moved forward, something caught Gallardi's eye. He approached and picked up some kind of a heavy weapon lying on one of the crates. The gun was in the collapsed stated and August still was not very familiar with the local weaponry to activate it. The gun had a small tank attached to it with an image of flame on it therefore the weapons purpose was pretty obvious to him.

"Grunt!" Gallardi shouted and saw the krogan turn and look at him. "Catch," August said and threw him the weapon.

Despite being a lumbering beast, Grunt caught the heavy weapon nimbly with one hand. He collapsed his shotgun and placed it on his back before activating his new toy. The pilot light in front of the weapon confirmed Gallardi's guess that this was a flamethrower.

"Since you favor close combat I think this will be useful to you," Gallardi told him with a nod.

"Get in close and smoke them out," Grunt mused and grinned wolfishly. "I like how you think, human."

The krogan picked up several spare canisters and once again took his position at the at the team's front. They advanced into the last room that separated them from a launch pad. Santiago was frantically ordering the last of his men to delay the August's team but it wasn't working. With Grunt armed with a flamethrower the battle started to become remarkably one sided – while the room had a lot of heavy machinery to use as cover, it didn't help them much against the flamethrower. Those who were not immediately set on fire had to leave their cover where they became easy pickings for the rest of the team.

The Blue Suns managed to put up some sort of resistance in the end when they activated their heavy mech. The mech was keeping half of the Gallardi's team suppressed but the Blue Suns made a mistake of trying to use it as a mobile cover. Gallardi decided to repeat what he did on Purgatory. With three precise shots he destroyed the mech's head and forced it to self-destruct. The blast killed most of the remaining mercs and incapacitated the rest. In a matter of minute those too joined their dead comrades.

The team opened the exit doors and rushed onto the landing pad.

Instead of finding more of the Blue Suns they spotted a lone figure of Vido Santiago limping away hurriedly toward the jungles. Gallardi saw the man bleed from a wound on his thigh as drops of blood landed with a splat into pool of some sort of liquid that was spilled on the floor. Judging by the smell it was some kind of fuel.

Massani fired a shot from his rifle that hit Vido in another thigh. The Blue Suns' commander fell on the floor with a cry. Then he rolled around and his eyes filled with dread as he caught sight of his pursuers.

"Wait, don't do this Zaeed!" Santiago pleaded. "It was nothing personal, just business. Do you understand? Look at yourself now; you're working with Spectre now, a God damn hero. I did the galaxy a favour!"

Zaeed simply reloaded his gun, sending a searing heatsink on the ground. It landed in the pool of promethium, or whatever these people used as a liquid fuel, and ignited it. The flame moved closer to where Vido was lying. The fire erupted all around him and the Blue Suns' leader screamed as he was set on fire. He tried to plead for help but no one moved. Gallardi himself felt no pity for this scum. The purification by fire was more than suitable punishment. He looked at his team members – both Zaeed and Grunt wore satisfied smirks. Garrus just looked impassively at the scene. Only Jacob seemed a bit uncomfortable with the Vido's torment.

Santiago's screams suddenly stopped with gunshot coming from behind Gallardi. August turned around and raised his weapon to meet the gunner but stopped immediately as he recognized Shepard. The woman's armor was covered in soot and she held a pistol in her hand pointed to where Vido's corpse lay. Shepard's face bore a stern expression.

"Shepard?" Gallardi asked as he approached her. "Were you successful? Are the civilians safe?"

"They are," the Commander replied with a tilt of her head, pointing towards the group of dirty workers that huddled in the distance. "Though not all of them."

It meant that someone was killed in the blast. Gallardi turned around to glare at the approaching merc who looked extremely pleased with himself.

* * *

><p>"Is it done?" Shepard asked coldly.<p>

"Yeah, we're all done here," Zaeed replied with a smirk.

"Good," Shepard said evenly.

THUD! SMACK!

Shepard moved as lightning as she placed two solid strikes at both Zaeed's crotch and head. The merc fell on the ground with a cry and curled in the fetal position.

"Fucking bitch!" Zaeed managed with a groan.

The Commander approached him and kicked him once again, rolling Zaeed on his back. She placed her foot on the man's chest and leaned closer. No one moved to intervene.

"Eight people, Massani," Shepard told him. "Eight people dead because of the explosion you caused and that's only those whose remains I was able to recognize."

"I couldn't allow…" Zaeed began.

"Yeah, yeah you couldn't allow Vido to escape, I got that," Victoria mocked him. "My question is: how exactly he would have escaped? On a shuttle and into space? There is a top of the line frigate up there with the best helmsman waiting for him. Or maybe you think that he would have used a shuttle to hide somewhere on this planet. We have the ARGUS sensor array on the Normandy to track him. We would have caught him one way or another. But no, you just had to rush in and kill him here and now. Well congratulations! You did it, but innocent lives were lost because of it."

Zaeed turned away and grumbled something in response.

"You know Massani, I really didn't expect this from you," Shepard continued. "When I met you on Omega, I really thought you were a professional. Never the one to put personal issues above the job. Guess I was wrong. Now I'm not sure I need you among my crew."

"Cerberus wouldn't pay me that much if they didn't think you'll need me," Zaeed argued.

"I doubt that Cerberus thought I would have picked up Gallardi and Maeteris," Victoria countered. "And honestly Zaeed, so far those two were ten times more of an asset than you're. So I can safely say that I will do well without your help."

"What are getting at Shepard?" Zaeed asked her.

"Isn't that obvious? I require your services no longer, mister Massani," Shepard replied. "We part our ways here, on this planet. I don't intend to ask you to return your payment, you're free to deal with that money as you see fit. Although something tells me Cerberus will find a way to syphon their money back."

Victoria turned around and started to walk away. She heard Zaeed's grunting as he struggled to get up.

"Shepard! Wait for a goddamn second," Massani grumbled. "Come on, let's talk this out."

"There is nothing talk about, Zaeed," Victoria told him. "If you cannot work as a part of a team, you're of no use to me."

"I've spent the last twenty years with my back against the wall. All because I once trusted Vido," the old mercenary said. "That bastard took everything from me. You wouldn't understand."

The last sentence stopped Shepard in her tracks. "_A very bad choice of words, Zaeed,_" she thought to herself. She quickly turned around and approached Massani.

"Is that so Zaeed? You were beaten up by your own men and shot by your former colleague. They figured you for dead and dumped you in some gutter where you were picked up by some Good Samaritan who delivered you to a local hospital. There you were roughly patched and then you spent twenty years plotting revenge," Victoria said to the man's face. "Me? I simply died. Died as in completely. I woke up in the hands of terrorists, most of my former friends call me a traitor. My bosses from the Council call me a loon."

"_The person I love more than life probably moved on after my death,_" Shepard wanted to say but held back. "So yeah, Massani, I probably wouldn't understand you."

Zaeed looked like he wanted to say something but then he simply looked away.

"You want to know the irony of all this?" Shepard asked him. "Just like you I'm hunting for people who killed me. The difference is, it was never about revenge for me, it's about saving people."

"Alright, I fucked up on this once! Is this what you wanted to hear?" Zaeed said angrily. "Look Shepard, in this fucked up Universe I pride myself for only two things - I never do the job half assed and I always pay my debts. Vido is dead. I own you for this big-time and I mean it. Let me do this job until the end. It's the least I can do."

Victoria was silent for a moment. The whole dialog was a play. While it rankled her to have a bastard like Zaeed on her team, she knew she could not afford to lose an experienced soldier. The stakes were too high. But she also remembered the Maeteris' second advice.

_And always remember: it is you who are in command. Not me, not anyone else._

Therefore she needed to put Zaeed in his place and remind him that as capable as he is, he is still a merc.

"Let me get this straight, Zaeed," Shepard told him evenly. "If you're coming, you're coming for good. You do what I say, how I say. One fuck up and you wouldn't simply walk away without your paycheck. I will personally send you to keep Vido's company in hell."

"No fuck ups, Shepard," Zaeed said with a hint of a smile. "We do this hero style. You get shiny medals and universal adoration. I get my retirement fund."

Shepard nodded only barely and once again turned to walk towards the group of workers. She activated her com and hailed the Normandy. She would leave some of the emergency supplies with the workers until relief from either the company or the Alliance arrives. The Normandy can always resupply later.

* * *

><p>Zaeed looked once again at the mangled corpse of Vido. This was it. Exactly like he pictured this moment for twenty years. This should have been Zaeed's moment of triumph. Vido was a pile of failed barbeque; the corpses of those who followed him littered this entire facility. And Zaeed was very much alive. There was only one thing that bothered him. One question.<p>

Why did he feel like shit right now?

He looked around at the retreating form of Commander Shepard. Technically, she was right - this whole operation could have been done cleanly, with less 'collateral' damage. Generally Zaeed could care less if some civvy gets caught in the crossfire. Should care less. But not now. Something about Shepard's disapproval forced him to think that he should care, should do better than just trying to be the last man standing.

Massani saw as Shepard conversed with the workers. The dirty survivors could not stop singing praises to their savior. Almost everyone was eager to shake her hand and some simply reached out to touch the pieces of her armor with reverence, like she was some kind of a living saint.

All Zaeed was getting were contemptuous glares.

"_Guess that's what makes the difference between the hero like Shepard and bitter old merc like me," _Massani thought to himself. "God damn, I could really use a drink now," he said out loud and walked towards the nearest crate to sit and wait for the shuttle.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Normandy's Engineering Deck, lower level.<strong>

"_This isn't getting me anywhere_," Jack thought as she continued to sit in the darkness. She didn't feel anything unusual in the last hour she spent trying to follow her bitchy sensei's advice. Although she did manage to 'feel' the air around herself and as reluctant as Jack was, she had to concede that the feeling was kind of cool. Knowing that even in Jack's seemingly empty hidey-hole there was always movement, action, and energy. Something was always present, something that never stopped or waited for anyone. Something that was only restrained by the hull of the ship, but should there be even smaller opening, the air would escape. Jack liked that. Right now she fully understood the meaning of the phrase "to be free as the wind".

Jack briefly imagined what it would be to be one with such an element. She imagined flying somewhere at high speed. Up to the engineering past those two bickering grease monkeys and into the Eezo core. That contraption was a thing of power, capable of lifting this entire ship and even making it invisible. Jack could almost feel the powerful impulses coming from it...

"I'm a poor, poor man," came the voice of Kenneth Donnelly. "Three women on deck and I don't get any attention. First on wouldn't even notice my existence. The second one would kill me with her brains if I even look wrongly at her and the third one is, well, Gabby."

Jack groaned loudly. The damn Scott just had to ruin everything. Jack took a deep breath before shouting loudly.

"Ken, can you shut the fuck up! I'm trying to concentrate here!"

There was a pause.

"But I didn't say anything!" Kenneth replied. This time however his voice was distant and muffled like it should be because he was one level above Jack.

Jack snapped her eyes open in surprise only to see the eldar still sitting in front of her and looking curiously.

"He speaks the partial truth," Maeteris said. "He didn't say anything. Not aloud at least."

"You mean I heard his...?" Jack asked excitedly.

"Yes, it seems that you made at least some progress," the eldar replied. "Good, because I almost started to wonder if it's all hopeless."

"Ha!" Jack grinned and struck out her tongue, forcing the eldar to sigh and rub her eyes.

"So, when do I get my crystal ball?" Jack asked the Farseer.

The eldar looked puzzled at such a question. "I'm not sure anyone would entrust you with something so fragile. Why would you even want a crystal ball?"

"You know, to tell the future!" Jack replied and then added uncertainly. "That's how you people do it - you look into the ball and it tells you stuff, right?"

Maeteris raised a brow. "No, we do not. It's far more complicated than that and completely beyond you. You don't really believe that hearing one stray thought will turn you into an applicant for the Seer Council?"

"Um, yeah?" Jack asked jokingly. Judging by the alien's facial expression she didn't get the joke.

"Is it just you or all of your people this grumpy?" Jack asked.

"I can enjoy a good joke," Maeteris replied with a barely perceptible shrug. "But only when I hear one."

"Ooh! Sorry I do not match your exalted standards, Your Majesty," Jack mocked the elder. Seeing that she was not getting any rise of the alien, the biotic decided to drop the issue. "So what's next?"

"Practice. A lot of practice," Maeteris stated. "First and foremost you need to learn to protect yourself against the denizens of the Warp."

"You mean those daemons from your place… They exist here too?" Jack asked apprehensively.

"Not as much as but yes, they exist here," the elder replied. "Do understand that they are irrevocably tied to all living beings capable of feeling. As long there is a sentient being alive, there always be daemons."

"You think someone would have picked up on this by now," Jack countered.

"I'm certain some of your people might have some knowledge of the Warp and those who inhabit it," the Farseer said. "Although if they decide to share this knowledge, most people would not believe it, deciding to live in blissful ignorance. Not long before, you've made a good example about similar case – Commander Shepard and the Reapers. She has the knowledge that danger is out there, but there are only a few who believe her."

"Yeah, point taken," Jack said with a nod. She started fidgeting nervously. "So, um, what do I do?"

"First, stop being afraid," Maeteris told her sternly. "While being a psyker you are bound to attract more attention, you're also more capable of fighting the daemons that anyone else. Understand the danger but do not be afraid. It is an absolutely useless feeling and it's something the daemons will exploit."

At first Jack wanted to say that she wasn't afraid of anything, but of course that was a lie. She was afraid. And lying to the eldar only to look tough would not help – Jack was completely transparent to the Farseer, of that she was certain.

"So, are you going to teach me some power moves?" Jack asked. "You know so can fight those things? A good offense is the best defense, right?"

Maeteris shook her head. "Not in this case. Only the most powerful best trained psykers could challenge a daemon and emerge victorious. While you have potential, you will not last long against a powerful daemon. No, in your case the best defense would be to avoid the battle altogether. I will teach to hide your presence in the Warp so that its predators would not take notice of you."

"Sounds cowardly," Jack snorted.

"It sounds cowardly when it should sound wise," the eldar countered. "Especially for you. Tell me, in your past when you committed another transgression against the law, why you tried to escape from justice? Why not meet it head on?"

"I'm not stupid," Jack replied. "I'm tough but even I can't fight an army of cops."

"Then that is your answer. When facing a daemon odds will never be in your favor."

"Ok, but what if I get detected?" Jack asked. "What then?"

"Shield yourself. Build a mental defense that the daemons would not easily penetrate," the Farseer advised. "Most of them would leave you alone because they would think that trying to break through to you is not worth the effort. Despite being immortal and having all of the time in the Universe, most of daemons are very fleeting creatures."

"You're going to teach me that too?" Jack queried.

The Farseer looked thoughtful for a moment. "The eldar practices would take a very long time for you to study. My advice would be to consult with the Imperial, he fought against the daemon kind and survived. While he is not a psyker, he will have some advice for you."

Jack snorted. "It's probably going to be some kind of religious bullshit."

"Undoubtedly it's going to be somehow tied to their religion," Maeteris agreed. "Although it is not such nonsense as you want to believe."

"What do you mean?"

"The humans pray and recite protective… litanies, I believe they are called, to ward themselves against the influence of Chaos," the eldar elaborated. "While they believe that because of those prayers grant them some kind of divine protection, most of the time the strength comes from within them. The words they speak are hollow by themselves. It is the faith they put in those words that protects them."

"Faith, huh?" Jack muttered thoughtfully.

"Yes, faith. Or belief. Or determination. Or sometimes even simple spite or stubbornness. These are things that allowed your kin to survive in the distant dark future of far off Universe."

"So it's simply a matter of believing that you can resist?" Jack asked the eldar.

"Essentially yes," Maeteris nodded. "Although I do not believe it is that simple."

There was a slight vibration around the ship. Then a distant voice of EDI announced: "Shuttle approaching. Stand by reserving crew."

The Farseer gracefully stood up. "We are done here for a moment. Continue the same practices we did today. We will continue once I feel that you are ready."

"Fine, whatever," Jack replied. She tried to sound uninterested but knew she had failed. Jack was very excited to learn to do something that was previously considered akin to a voodoo magic.

Jack tried to stand up too but winced and cursed as her numb legs flared with pain.

"Oh yes, that too," Maeteris said as she turned to leave. "Do try to work on your muscle flexibility. You will be spending a lot of time in meditation."

"You could have warned me at least," Jack groveled. She waived with her hand. "Come on, a little help over here?"

"Do it yourself," the Farseer said as she finally vanished from sight. "Through the struggles of body an indomitable spirit is forged."

"Fucking elf," Jack muttered. Slowly, wincing and cursing, she straightened her legs and started rubbing them in order to return some sense into them.

* * *

><p>"This absolutely unacceptable Mr. Massani," Maeteris listened as Commander Shepard's executive officer argued with the old mercenary. "Cerberus paid a substantial amount of credits and your contract states that you are to follow Commander's orders by the letter."<p>

"Miranda, just drop it," Shepard said, clearly tired. "We already dealt with it."

The Farseer approached the group the group that stood near the entrance of the elevator. Everyone of course turned to look at her.

"I take your latest operation was a success," the eldar stated. She heard a sniffing sound behind her but ignored it.

"Could have gone better but something tells it could have been much worse," Shepard said with a shrug. "What about you? How is Jack?"

"She has made some progress," the eldar replied. "Something might yet come out of her."

"Good, once again thank you for your help," Commander thanked her.

The elevator arrived and the group entered it. Maeteris heard sniffing sound behind her once again and turned to see the huge krogan looking at her.

"Stop it, beast," the Farseer told him sternly.

"What are you?" the krogan asked. "You look human, but you smell old. As old as the krogan. The imprint in my head tells me that humans do not live that long."

"She not human, Grunt," Shepard explained. "She is an eldar."

"The imprint doesn't have anything on the eldar," Grunt said. "But you look even more fragile that humans. You must be weak. Strange that Shepard would have you on… Hrrrr…"

"Grunt?" Shepard asked as she heard the krogan stop his speech and start making strange noises.

"Commander, I think Grunt is sleeping," Jacob told her.

"What? How?" Shepard turned to see that the krogan standing idly with his eyes closed.

"You were correct Captain. So much like the orks," Maeteris said to Gallardi. "Strong in body but with such simple minds."

The elevator opened on the Crew Deck and Maeteris exited, walking straight towards her cabin.

* * *

><p>Everyone stared at the sleeping krogan. Garrus waved his hand in front of his face. "So much for pureblood krogan."<p>

"Okeer's probably spinning in his grave," Jacob added.

Grunt wavered for a moment and then fell forward with a thud. He groaned and shook his head as he struggled to stand up.

"What… Who? Where?" Grunt muttered as he looked around. "What happened?"

"The 'weak eldar' has put you into sleep," Gallardi commented. "You should never judge the enemy by the appearance alone."

The krogan growled. "I'll go… get some sleep."

"No Grunt, you're going to see Dr Chakwas and she is going to dig out all those bullets stuck inside your hide," Shepard told him.

"Hm, fine," Grunt muttered and walked towards the Med bay.

"She can defeat the most powerful biotic with just a wave of her hand, she can put a pureblood krogan into sleep without lifting a finger, she can predict the future," Shepard mumble in awe. She looked at Gallardi. "Tell me Captain, what other impossible things she is capable of?"

"She somehow managed to smuggle an eldar strike force on one of the Imperium's most well defended worlds once," Gallardi commented with a shrug. "Wait until you see her in battle."

"Somehow I'm no longer eager to see that," Victoria muttered. "Right people, everyone dismissed. See you at dinner."

* * *

><p><em>Dinner time…<em>

Maeteris was preparing for another divination session when she heard a curious growl. She ignored it at first but when the sound came once again she looked around her cabin for the source of it. She could not sense any other presence inside. But when the growl came for the third time, Maeteris understood that the sound actually came from inside of her stomach. It is that moment Maeteris suddenly understood how ravenously hungry she was. As she should be – the last time she ate was on that accursed Imperial world. As an eldar she could spend a long time without food but it could only be for so long.

She reached out with her mind outside of her cabin. The ship's crew gathered once again for dinner at the moment. Maeteris was not ready to share food with them as the Imperial Captain was already doing, but she still needed to eat. All she needed to do was to quickly enter the main hall grab something palatable and then get back inside her cabin.

* * *

><p>Shepard was once again sitting in her seat at the head of the table. The people gathered around and some of them were throwing eager glances towards Gallardi. "<em>Probably waiting for him to tell another story about the Imperium of Man,<em>" Victoria thought to herself. She couldn't blame them – Shepard herself was actually very eager to hear more herself, especially after he told her about the Emperor.

It was when everyone finally took their seats; Victoria heard the door open and the mess hall descended into silence. Shepard no longer had to look behind her to know that Maeteris entered the room. The Farseer had that kind of presence. Victoria turned around to see the eldar quickly approach the Mess Sgt Gardner's stall. The elderly cook was too stunned to utter any word. Maeteris quietly picked up a platter and placed several pieces of bread and several leaves of salad on it. She took a bottle of water and a glass and immediately turned to leave. The Farseer made two steps and then stopped dead. Almost reluctantly she turned around and once again approached the stall and started to stare at the bowl of apples. Maeteris' hand twitched slightly as if she was uncertain whether she should take it or not.

"One apple is not going to make you fat, Princess," Jack told her.

The Farseer gave a withering stare and then quickly grabbed a green apple and left the mess hall.

"It's probably has nothing to do with a fear of putting on several kilos," Kasumi said as she returned to her fish. "Shep, do you remember what she said about the eldar nature?"

"Yeah, that it is the eldar's nature to limit oneself," Victoria replied. "This probably applies to the food. I mean, she took only salad leaves and bread. Like she is part of some strict monastic order."

Shepard looked at Gallardi expecting some kind explanation but he only shook his head. "Can't comment on that. All I can say is that we never encountered a fat eldar."

There was a general murmur around the table as the crew returned to their meals. Surprisingly it was Garrus this time who asked Gallardi a question.

"Captain I was wondering if you can explain something to me," the turian said.

"That depends, Vakarian," Gallardi said as he stopped eating.

"Back on Zoria, when Shepard was about to enter the refinery, you wished her good luck and then added that '_The Emperor protects_'. Is that some kind of blessing?" the turian asked.

"Indeed it is," Gallardi replied and turned to look at Shepard. "Although it was shortened a bit for general use. The full statement goes 'The Emperor protects the virtuous"."

Shepard simply lowered her gaze shyly. She never considered herself to be '_virtuous_', she just did her duty.

"That was the second time I heard you use it," Garrus continued. "You make it sound as if you venerate the ruler of the Imperium as some sort of god. Can you explain that?"

Gallardi looked down at his food and chuckled. "Never in my life have I expected an alien to ask me about the Emperor," the Captain shook his head and looked up at Garrus. "Indeed, the God-Emperor is the ruler of the Imperium and is worshipped as the ascended divinity and the Savior of mankind."

"So is he a person or a god?" Miranda asked, clearly confused.

"He's both," Gallardi said. "He was a greatest living being among humans and he ascended to Godhood because of his noble sacrifice during Horus Heresy."

"You've mentioned this 'Horus Heresy' before," Gabriella Daniels noted from the far end of the table. "What exactly happened?"

"Perhaps I'm not the best person to ask this, I'm not a historian," Gallardi said apologetically. "All I know comes from divine sermons. It all began when the Emperor took control of the Holly Terra and started a Great Crusade to unify the Mankind under a single banner..."

An hour passed almost imperceptibly as Gallardi retold them the story of the foundation of the Imperium of Man. How the Emperor created the Adeptus Astartes Legions to act as the spearhead of his conquest. These Legions were let by another creation of the Emperor, the Primarchs - demigod like being of great power, which were almost like sons to the Emperor. The greatest of the Primarchs was considered Horus, the Emperor's most beloved son.

"At the end of the Crusade, Horus the Arch traitor, although I guess he was known by another name at the time, was appointed to be a Crusade's Warmaster and to lead the conquest of the remaining worlds instead of the Emperor. The Emperor himself left the Crusade and retreated back to Terra for reasons known only to Him," the Captain continued his tale. "It is unknown what exactly happened, but it is generally considered that Horus was somehow corrupted by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, to whom a unified and orderly Imperium was an anathema. Horus turned against his Emperor and half of the Primarchs and their Legions joined him..."

Gallardi went on how the Great Crusade turned into a bloody civil war. How the Horus' forces laid siege to Terra and his forces battled against the loyalists at the Eternity Gate - the entrance to the Emperor's Palace. How the Emperor and several loyal Primarchs boarded Horus' flagship and how the Emperor managed to completely destroy Horus but was mortally wounded himself. How he made a choice to be interned in the Golden Throne so he could sustain the Astronomican so that the Imperium would not fall apart without it. And how the Emperor remained in that state for over ten thousand years.

Many questions were asked later: about the Astronomican, the fate of the remaining traitors. Gallardi answered all of them to the best of his ability. The main questioners were of course Mordin and Kelly, although ever cynical Miranda persisted with her own uncomfortable questions.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand the Emperor is only a nominal ruler of the Imperium. If he is currently on life support it would be hard for him to commune with his subjects. So who is ruling in his stead?"

To his credit, Gallardi didn't seem perturbed by this. "You are correct only partially Lawson, the Emperor still communicates with his servants. In trying times He sends visions to the loyal psykers and saints who interpret His will and act on it. Still, the main task of organizing and sustaining the Imperium rest with the Council of the High Lords of Terra."

"Nobility?" Mordin quickly asked for elaboration.

Gallardi shook his head. "No they are the leaders of the most powerful Adeptus, um... organizations of the Imperium..."

As Gallardi continued to explain the structure of the distant Imperium, Victoria felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around to see Kasumi standing quietly behind her.

"Hate to interrupt this Shep, I'm actually fascinated myself, but what is our next move?"

"I don't know Kasumi," Shepard replied. "We still have no intel on Collectors."

"Do you think we are going to have a two day window," Kasumi asked hopefully.

"I don't know. Maybe," Victoria shrugged. "Why?"

The thief's eyes lit up under her hood. "It's party time."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I believe that all of you know what is going to happen in the next chapter. I can only promise that it will be non-canon._


	10. Whatever you do, the eldar do it better

_Author's note: Believe it or not but this story is already over 100k words. Woot! Where do I get my Fan Fiction veteran badge? Okay, maybe not veteran but a specialist badge. I think I earned that. :)_

_Also, DamonMaddox gets a tasty Internet cookie for being the hundredth person to make this story his favorite!_

_Now, the replies to the anonymous reviews:_

_Etheral Ro'Jak: __Sorry man, but no. I'm not going to add tau to this fic. If I add one, it will make the story too bloated. Besides, I find the tau a bit... boring. It's only my opinion but it's an honest one._

_Perseus:__ As I already mentioned, Maeteris will be present on Horizon. Don't worry, there will be lots of psychic lightning, dangerous things flying around and one giant Fus Rho Dah (if you played Skyrim, you will know what I'm talking about)._

_Axcel:__ I agree. This story deserves MOAR reviews!_

_There is another issue I wanted to address before we continue. I think it is safe to assume that most of you (if not everyone) played the ME3 demo. Do you want to know what I disliked the most? The penalty for using tech armor. I mean, seriously – 80 percent increase of cooldown time for all powers? I had to physically restrain Victoria from blowing up the Bioware's office._

_As for what I liked the most: Kodiaks. Yes, Kodiaks. With guns. And you know what I think? I think that my current Kodiak has them too! That changes things, well, quite a bit actually. ;)_

_That's it for now. Let's get back to the story._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: Whatever you do, the eldar do it better.<strong>

**Location: Serpent Nebula, Boltzmann System, orbit of planet Bekenstein, Normandy's cargo hold.**

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Six shots had hit the impromptu target dead in the center. If the spectators didn't know better, they might have thought that the target was hit by a single heavy caliber round.

"So, it's actually a skill," Garrus commented.

"What?" August asked as he collapsed the heavy pistol and placed it on the table before him.

"Your accuracy. We were all wandering whether your precise shooting is because of the small recoil of your weapon or because of your own experience and training," the turian explained.

"I see," Gallardi nodded. "Las weapons indeed have very small recoil. But I was trained to use a large variety of weapons, including projectile weapons like autoguns, stubbers and even bolt pistols. In fact, your mass accelerators have less recoil than powder based weaponry of the Imperium, therefore they don't impair my accuracy too much."

"Makes sense, since you're Special Forces," Jacob said. He looked at the pistol Gallardi was using. "So, what do you think?"

August took the pistol and activated it once again. He weighed it in his hand, checking the balance. "I'll take it," he collapsed the weapon and placed in the holster. "Although it will be ironic to use this particular gun."

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked him.

"The weapons designation, M-6 Carnifex," August replied. "Do you know what Carnifex means?"

Garrus simply shrugged, clearly not familiar with the term.

"It means 'butcher' in ancient Latin," Jacob supplied.

"It means the same thing in High Gothic," Gallardi said with a nod. "It is also a designation for one of the most fierce tyranid monstrosities. Imagine a beast size of a house with long, diamond hard talons capable of cutting open a battle tank. Their thick hides are impervious to small arms fire and it requires several shots from anti-tank weaponry to take them out."

"Lost many good men fighting those bastards," August added with a sigh. "Now, it seems I will have to trust one in battle."

Garrus chuckled. "As you humans say - the irony is thick here."

August heard the elevator's door open and turned to see Kasumi stagger out carrying a box filled with what looked like assorted weapons and pieces of armor.

"Can a girl get some help over here?" Kasumi asked.

Jacob was the first to react as he rushed to assist the struggling woman.

"My hero," Kasumi said with a smile as she gladly passed the crate to Jacob. "I wonder how Shepard manages to wear all that stuff and still run around and fight."

She motioned for Jacob to follow her and walked toward one of the metal crates standing in the cargo hold. She opened one of the side panels and August saw a statue of a turian hidden inside.

"Huh, never thought I'd see him ever again," Garrus muttered and started to approach the statue. Curious of the statue, Gallardi followed the turian.

"He looks somewhat familiar, even for me," August noted.

"It's Saren," Garrus explained.

"Ah, it was the traitor Spectre you people defeated two years ago, wasn't he?" Gallardi remembered the said turian's image from the Extranet.

"Yes, although I don't know why anyone would make a statue of him nowadays," Garrus mused.

"They don't," Kasumi cheerfully said as she lowered herself down, clicked something on the pedestal and revealed hidden compartment within. She started placing the armor and weapons inside. "This one was made shortly after Saren was made Spectre. I managed to... acquire it two years ago when it was moved from its usual place on the Citadel."

She finished placing the gear into the compartment. She clicked a hidden button once again and the pedestal closed, hiding its dangerous cargo.

"So this is the way you're going to smuggle weapons inside the estate?" Gallardi asked her. They were briefed earlier about upcoming operation. The plan was that Shepard and Goto were going to infiltrate a social event, which was held by some kind of criminal arms dealer, in order to retrieve a device called "graybox". Kasumi explained to him that this device was a sort of cybernetic implant that was placed inside the man's brain in order to record everything the person sees. This particular graybox belonged to Kasumi's former partner in crime, Keiji Okuda. It seems that the man managed to record some dangerous intelligence. Intelligence that got him killed.

While Kasumi honestly stated that she wanted to retrieve the said graybox only to have a reminder of her late friend, she also said that Keiji managed to warn her that the information he had was dangerous. Something that could seriously hurt the Systems Alliance's reputation and all of humanity by extension. This was a very good reason for everyone, including August, to perform this kind of operation.

"Indeed," Kasumi replied with a smile. "Shepard is going to present this to our host, as a token of appreciation."

"And he is going to accept this?" Gallardi asked incredulously. "A statue of an avowed enemy of Mankind?"

"Hock has a rather... eccentric taste."

"Is that how you call it?" August asked. "Back in the Imperium we have a much shorter and more informative term - heresy."

"Having something like this could get you in jail?" Jacob asked him.

"In jail?" August asked again. Then he remembered that local laws are probably less severe than those of the Imperium, and replied. "I suppose you could spend some time in Inquisitorial dungeons, but only if they think you might know something important and they need to keep you somewhere during the process of interrogation. Other than that, the penalty for heresy is death."

"Ouch," Jacob said with a wince.

The sound of the elevator's opening once again made everyone turn to see the arrival. A woman dressed in a long evening black dress with silver accessories gracefully stepped out of the lift. It took a couple of seconds for Gallardi to realize that the said woman was in fact Commander Shepard. Seeing her without armor or her usual black uniform was a bit strange, although August had to agree that she was a pleasing sight to see.

"Well, that is not something you see every day," Garrus muttered.

"We agree on that," Jacob echoed the turian.

Shepard approached them with a coy smile.

"Gentlemen, you all have a look on your faces as if you have seen something impossible," the Commander said. "I not entirely unfeminine, you know."

Both Garrus and Jacob started to stutter with excuses when Kasumi interrupted. "Don't listen to them Shep, you look great! You should wear this stuff more often."

Shepard looked at Gallardi. "What about you, Captain? What's your opinion?"

August smiled. "Well, your dress is a bit modest for an Imperial noble, but I don't know the latest trends here, so I suppose this will be considered appropriate."

Shepard quirked her eyebrow. "Now it is my turn to be surprised. You are familiar with your nobility's fashion trends?"

"A bit. It was part of our duty for the Inquisition to perform social infiltration in order to unearth dangerous cults," Gallardi replied with a shrug. "I was part of one, although I simply played the role of a bodyguard. Sahi, our death cult assassin did most of the job."

"Somehow I can't picture someone called a 'death cult assassin' playing a role of a noble," Jacob said and crossed his arms.

"Oh, but you should. It was most entertaining," Gallardi told him. Seeing the curiosity present on everyone's faces, he started to elaborate. "Sahi was, and I pray that she still is, a master of impersonation. Imagine a woman who is always dressed in a black bodysuit, carries a deadly sword and Emperor alone knows how many other concealed weapons. When she is not deployed on the mission, she usually spends her time alone in her room, either silently reciting her oath to the Emperor or honing her skills. Usually you wouldn't hear more than two words a day from her, and those two would be 'morning' and 'evening'."

"But when such need arose, she put on one of the extremely expensive dresses we kept for such occasion, adopted a Necromundian High Spire accent and turned into Gracia Vitria Ulanti the Third - a noblewoman from one of the most famous Naval dynasties of Necromunda, renowned for her ability to speak faster than a stormbolter and also her love for all things shiny and all things mysterious," August chuckled at the memory. "The nobles were entranced by her bubbly personality; they never knew that the woman they tried to impress could kill them with her pinky finger."

"Never thought your Inquisition worked that way," Kasumi said. "I thought you were more of 'throw into the dungeon and torture until you get confession' type."

"I assure you, Miss Goto, a lot of inquisitors act exactly that way," August told her. "But most of inquisitors prefer to act more subtly. In fact, from what I learned of the Council Spectres, they are not all too dissimilar. Both can act outside of the law and report only to the highest authority. Of course, the Spectres lack the Inquisitorial mandate. It gives the inquisitor a near unlimited power – member of the Holy Ordos can commission service of every loyal subject of the Emperor: from simple peasant to the planetary governor."

Victoria chuckled. "So, technically I'm an inquisitor? Why do I suddenly have an urge to get myself a coat with high collar and a broad-brim hat?"

"Don't forget about the cape," August noted and the whole company, except Garrus, burst into laughter.

"I should probably study this in the free time, because I didn't get the joke," the turian noted, clearly confused.

There was more laughter.

* * *

><p>"Alright Kasumi, we should get moving," Shepard told the thief. "We don't want to be late for the party, are we?"<p>

Gallardi and Jacob closed the cargo box that contained Saren's statue, and started to move it into the shuttle when something caught August's attention. He looked up at the window that allowed people to overlook the cargo hold from the engineering level and saw the eldar standing there. The Farseer seemed to be studying Shepard for a moment, when her shoulders sagged and she turned around and entered the elevator. A moment later the lift's doors in the cargo hold opened and Maeteris approached the group.

Maeteris studied Shepard's face more intently. Victoria suddenly felt a bit nervous under the eldar's judging gaze. She tried to smother some nonexistent quirks on her dress, perfectly aware that the gown fit her perfectly. Yet still there was disapproval in the Farseer's eyes.

"What? Is there something wrong with me?" Shepard managed.

Maeteris sighed deeply and face palmed herself. Then she spoke.

Although it was insulting to call _that_ a speech. Maeteris almost sang. She sang on some unknown language, probably some eldar dialect. The language was impossibly melodic and graceful, more that even Traditional Asari with its particular purring accent, and that one was considered the most beautiful language in the Galaxy. Victoria briefly wondered just how crude and unimaginative Maeteris found human languages.

The first one to react to the eldar's phrase was Kasumi. She let her face slacken, as if she was drooling.

"I don't know what you said, but say it again!" Kasumi almost pleaded.

Maeteris rolled her eyes. "What I said was: how you humans reached the stars in the first place is beyond me."

She took Shepard's hand and started to tow her towards the elevator.

"Maeteris, what is wrong?" Victoria asked, unable to hide her bewilderment.

"Your makeup is wrong," the Farseer stated with all seriousness.

"_My… makeup_?" Shepard thought to herself. "_What does makeup have to do with anything?_"

As the elevator ascended to the first level, Shepard turned to face the eldar.

"Alright, what's wrong with my face," Victoria asked the Farseer.

"It is not done properly. Granted, you managed to hide most of the flaws on your face in order to make yourself more appealing," Maeteris replied. "But that is not what is required for this mission."

"What is required than?" Shepard queried.

"You will pose yourself as a leader of a mercenary group, correct?" The Farseer asked her. Not waiting for an answer, she continued. "You will be a woman of power and ruthlessness, and you will have to look and act like one. This is clearly not the case at the moment. Right now you look more like a rich pampered child, who spends too much time in training facilities."

"Thanks," Victoria replied indignantly. Sometimes Maeteris could be really blunt.

The Farseer shook her head. "I do not mean to insult you, Commander. I merely stated what I see when I look at you. And while you're capable of great many things, you're not a master of makeup."

"But you are?" Shepard asked incredulously. So far she didn't see the eldar wear any makeup, not that she needed one – the Farseer's face was perfect. The greatest Galaxy's models would probably sell their souls for a face like that.

The elevator door opened at the loft and Maeteris stepped out. "I will let my actions speak for me."

They entered Victoria's quarters. Maeteris briefly looked around and then turned to address Shepard.

"Now, I need you to clean your face completely. Then, we shall begin."

Victoria sighed and let her shoulders sag. "Is this really necessary Maeteris? I spent over half an hour applying this."

"It is absolutely necessary," the Farseer stated firmly. "And it would take far less time with me doing this."

Seeing that the issue would not be dropped, Victoria complied. She entered her bathroom and in two minutes her face was completely clean. Several surgical scars glowed dimly at the edges of her face.

"Very good," the Farseer declared as Shepard exited her bathroom. "Now, where is…?"

Victoria figured that the eldar was probably referring to a set of cosmetics Shepard used previously. It was lent to her by Kasumi and was very extensive, which was odd considering that the thief hid her face under a hood most of the time. Shepard took it out of a drawer and placed it on her desk. Maeteris opened it and started rummaging through its contents.

"So many things… Almost all of them useless," the eldar muttered. "I'll only need this… this and this."

She turned to look at Victoria. "Sit."

Shepard did as she was told.

"Now, let's see…" Maeteris said as she began to work.

_Three minutes later…_

"There, it's done," Maeteris declared.

"What? But you just started!" Shepard exclaimed.

Maeteris simply passed her the mirror.

"Oh, come on you really want me to believe that you… Oh," Victoria said as she stared at her reflection.

Only it was not Victoria Shepard who was staring back at her from the mirror. This woman was… someone else. Victoria could not detect any traces of makeup on her reflection's face. It was so subtle but it changed everything. It was as if someone placed a mask on her face or that she has undergone an extensive plastic surgery.

"Is this me?" Victoria asked.

"No," Maeteris replied. "This is… Allison Gunn I believe was your alias, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Victoria confirmed, still a bit entranced by the changes in her face. Victoria was never a narcissist, but if heart was not taken, she would have surely fallen in love with the woman in the mirror. This… Allison Gunn had a dark beauty Shepard was not aware she could possess. The woman in the mirror was also dangerous. So dangerous that it would scare away lesser men but attract others. "_Someone like Donovan Hock_," Victoria thought to herself.

"Maeteris, this is just… Wow!" Shepard said as she finally managed to tear her gaze from the mirror.

"Yes, judging by your reaction we have achieved the required result," the Farseer said with a nod. "Now, stand up. We are not done yet."

Shepard stood up and allowed Maeteris to lead her into her bathroom. There they both stood in front of a big mirror.

"First, do not smile, like you always do," the eldar continued. "It is endearing and it has won you the adoration and loyalty of many people in the past. But you're not Commander Shepard. Today, you are Allison Gunn – a ruthless mercenary captain, who fought her way from the bottom to the top, relying mostly on herself. You do not smile. Not every day. When you look at people they should either fear you or consider themselves glad that you even allowed their existence. Your smile should be a reward only for the most worthy. Those who receive your smile will lose their heads and become complacent, thinking that they have won you over. That would be a moment when you deliver your strike."

"How do you know all this?" Victoria asked the Farseer.

"I wasn't born a Seer," Maeteris replied with a shrug. "I was a warrior before and an artist long before that."

"You were an artist?" Shepard queried. "What did you do?"

"I was a musician, a dancer," the eldar replied. "And of course I performed in the theater."

"You were a musician? What was your instrument?" Victoria asked, surprised to find a kindred soul. Shepard herself was fairly good with guitars. Lately she missed being able to pull some strings before going to sleep ever since her previous acoustic guitar was destroyed with the previous Normandy. Victoria has yet to buy herself a new one.

"Mine was a wraithbone horn," the eldar said.

"What was its sound like?" Shepard asked her.

"It is... difficult to describe with words. You must hear it for yourself," Maeteris replied with just a slight hint of longing in her voice. "And since there currently no means of creating a wraithbone, I'm afraid you'll never know."

"That's a pity," Shepard said with awe. "I think I can safely say that everyone would love to hear about that part of your life from you. That is, if you'll be willing to tell us, of course."

Maeteris' face was neutral for a moment. "Maybe one day, I will. But you should be on your way; your social event waits for you. Just remember – today, you're not Victoria Shepard."

Victoria removed a smile from her face and spoke to her reflection with steel in her voice. "Yes. My name is Allison Gunn."

* * *

><p>As Maeteris followed the Commander out of the bathroom she noticed as Shepard briefly stopped to look at something on her desk. The Farseer looked over the human's shoulder and saw a picture of an alien woman, an asari. Slightly familiar with some of the human customs, Maeteris knew that they liked to carry such mementos with them – pictures of family, closest friends and comrades. And loved ones, of course. Judging by the warm affection Shepard radiated towards the person in the picture, the said asari was the latter. Maeteris quickly looked away – in eldar society, intimate matters like these concerned only those two involved and no one else. Everything stayed behind closed doors. So whatever sort of relationship Shepard had with this asari was not the Farseer's business.<p>

Yet as she continued to follow Shepard to the elevator, there was one curious aspect of this revelation that interested Maeteris. She studied some of the races that inhabited this Galaxy, and already knew that many sentient beings, asari in particular, considered an interspecies relationship as something absolutely normal. Such thing was considered absolutely disgusting by the eldar, mainly because of belief in the eldar's superiority as a sentient race. It was thought that only the lowliest of beings would engage in something like this, and that such relation was only based on lust. Yet what Shepard felt for her lover was anything but lust. It was a soft and carrying feeling, something Maeteris herself felt some time ago, only it withered and died. The Farseer wondered on who was actually right in this matter: her people or the races of this Universe.

There was another thing Maeteris wondered about: whether Captain Gallardi knew about this and how he would react when he founds out?

* * *

><p>Although it was a little less over twenty minutes since the eldar dragged the bewildered Shepard to her quarters, the rumors of a Commander's new image already reached the farthest places on the ship. The cargo hold was now filled with eager crew members - everyone was interested to see the 'New Shepard'. Almost every male crew member, and a surprising amount of the female ones, stood in a tight group besides waiting Kodiak. The last one to join them was Joker, who had his omni-tool with him to, as he said, 'make sure that such historic event was properly recorded'.<p>

Briefly, Gallardi wondered whether he should go and check upon Commander. Emperor alone knew what that eldar had in mind, although somehow August was sure it would not be something life threatening. So far, the Farseer was mostly helpful.

Suddenly, the doors of the elevator opened and the cargo hold became deathly silent. August turned to see what the commotion was about and as both Maeteris and... someone exited the elevator. He had to blink several times to realize that the said 'someone' was once again Commander Shepard, because this time she looked completely different. It was as if someone altered her face. While original Shepard was pretty attractive, this woman was tantalizing. There was also a hidden strength behind that allure. If Shepard was dressed in appropriate armor she would have easily passed for a Canoness or an Inquisitor.

With great reluctance, August tore his gaze from the Commander to study the expressions of the other people present. Most of the men like Jacob, Donnelly and Joker were simply staring, their mouth agape. Zaeed tugged at the hem of his collar, as if he had trouble breathing. Even Garrus seemed confused, his mandibles twitching oddly.

Gallardi turned to once again to look at Shepard and saw her start to move towards the shuttle, her footsteps echoing loudly in the silent cargo hold. Maeteris didn't follow her but walked to the side and stood close to August with a satisfied half smile on her face.

"What kind of sorcery is this?" Gallardi hissed quietly at the Farseer.

"The best kind. The one that does not require any psychic talent," Maeteris replied nonchalantly. She turned to face August. "There is no spell here. Only the craft that was honed by my ancestors for many eons."

Gallardi looked once again at Shepard. "_All this because of simple makeup_?" he thought to himself.

"You might not want to admit it, Captain, but the eldar are better than humans at some things simply because we had more time to master those things," the Farseer added.

"Uh-huh," August said and added quietly. "Show off."

"If I wanted to, as you say, 'show off', you wouldn't have been able to tear your eyes of Commander Shepard," Maeteris told him. "Well, maybe not you, but every other man present would have been absolutely entranced."

August stared at her, unsure how to respond. "_Did she just complimented my resolve or insulted me by saying that I'm so dumb I can't understand the concept of a woman's beauty_?" Gallardi asked himself inwardly. The eldar never spoke plainly; there was always some hidden meaning in their words.

The Farseer turned her head to look at him but hastily turned away once she saw Gallardi staring at her, as if she didn't want to meet his gaze. Then, the eldar just stood there looking at nothing in particular before suddenly retreating towards the elevator.

Gallardi shook his head in confusion and decided to drop the issue. Most likely the eldar simply wanted to simply insult him to remind Gallardi how once again how superior her race was. August turned his sight back to the Kodiak to see that Shepard already boarded the shuttle and strapped herself into one of the couches. She turned her head to look at the assembled crew.

"I believe that we're already a bit late, Kasumi. Are you coming?" The Commander asked.

"You sure you need me for this?" The thief asked with a grin. "Hock's probably going to surrender all his riches to you as soon as you appear at his doorstep."

"Maybe, but I still need you identify the thing we are looking for," Shepard told her. She was really getting into her role.

"Makes sense," Kasumi said and jumped into the shuttle.

"Goldstein, Hawthorne," the Commander addressed the shuttle pilots. "This thing is not going to fly by itself."

"Right, on it ma'am!" Goldstein replied and nudged her co-pilot. "Move it, you oaf!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah yeah, the shuttle!" Hawthorne stuttered as he rushed into the cockpit.

Goldstein followed him. "That is a killer look, ma'am," the woman told Shepard and disappeared inside the cabin.

The shuttle's engine started to whine and the crew took several steps back. The Commander once again looked at her crew, Joker in particular.

"I'll contact you once we are done or if we need assistance, is that understood?" Shepard asked. "Joker?"

"Yes mom, I did the homework," the entranced pilot replied and immediately began to stutter, trying to correct himself. "I-I-I mean, we'll be ready, ma'am. Just give the call."

There was a burst of laughter. Joker immediately blushed deep crimson. "Yeah, yeah very funny. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just go somewhere and die quietly."

The shuttle's door closed and moments later the craft left the Normandy's hangar.

"Great many hearts will be broken today," Gardner joked.

"You think it's going to be that simple?" Chakwas asked. "I fear there might be suicide attempts by the end of the day. If some hussy top model sees the Commander, she'll die on the spot because of jealousy."

"I wonder how Liara would have reacted to this," Joker noted absent mindedly.

Before Gallardi managed to ask him to elaborate on who Liara was, the name clicked in his head - Liara T'Soni. "_So, the rumors are true_..." He thought absent-mindedly. He knew that both Chakwas and Joker were part of the Commanders previous crew, so they probably knew her very well.

The strange thing was how Gallardi felt about such revelation. He knew he should feel anger, hate and disgust but instead he was simply confused. "_How such thing is possible_?" August asked himself. The Imperial Truth stated that those who worship or consort with aliens are weak willed traitors. That the souls of such people are dammed for eternity and there is little chance for redemption.

Yet Shepard was not weak willed. Only a day before Gallardi saw her fearlessly step inside a blazing refinery, risking her life for the sake of the few people she never knew, and those actions were just a pale reflection of her previous achievements. He didn't see her shy away from a fight and she was a strong fighter and a sound officer. If her soul is dammed than what gives her the strength she possess?

Once again, Gallardi wondered if this dimension was working on some completely different principle. Would have been easier if it did. But if didn't... Well, that raised many questions, uncomfortable questions August would rather never answer. Like whether the Imperium was right on everything? It was right on most occasions surely - the Imperial ideology managed to preserve the Mankind against the most terrible odds for more than ten thousand years and Gallardi prayed would preserve for thousands more. Still, the Imperium did not exist without mistakes like the Reign of Blood, when terrible things were committed in the Emperor's name...

Gallardi sighed deeply. Doubts. One thing August hated the most was being in doubt. For a second time he wished nothing more than to be back home fighting the enemies of the Emperor. Things were so simple back there...

* * *

><p><em>Normandy's lower Engineering level<br>_

Jack wrapped herself in her bedroll once again. Briefly she wondered whether she should take Shepard's offer and move to one of those cabins on the Crew Deck. Shepard said there were decent beds there. Still, Jack was hardcore and she is not going to trade the privacy her current lair offered for some fancy bed.

Jack didn't whether it was her doing or simple exhaustion from her yesterday's practices, but she managed to get a decent sleep this time. Although, she was already awake for some time she decided she could wallow lazily a bit more.

"When I said you should practice a lot, I meant it," came the eldar's voice all of a sudden.

This time, Jack didn't jump in surprise. She was starting to get used to the alien's constant sneaking. Jack wrapped herself a bit tighter before replying.

"Go away. I haven't had a decent night's sleep because of you for days."

"You are more than well-rested right now," Maeteris told her sternly. "You are simply indulging your inner sloth. Get up."

"Fuck off, you're not my mother," Jack retorted.

"Indeed, I'm not," the Farseer said. "And I praise Isha for not blessing me with an offspring such as you."

That actually stung Jack. Immediately she got of her bedroll, approached the eldar and stared at her with a murderous glare.

"You think I'm some kind of freak, huh? That I should have never been born?" Jack asked threateningly. "You think I'm a mistake?"

At this point most people usually started to back away, stuttering with excuses. The Farseer did not even flinch. She even leaned closer to look Jack straight in the face.

"You tell me. Are you a mistake, Jacqueline?" Maeteris asked evenly.

Jack immediately backed away. "_How did she..._" Jack was about to ask herself when she remembered that the eldar was a mind reader.

The Farseer then simply turned around and started to walk away. She stopped briefly and spoke over her shoulder.

"Only you can truthfully answer the question that plagues you so much," the eldar said and continued walking before adding. "Continue your practice."

With a snarl, Jack grabbed a nearby metal crate and threw it using her biotics against the nearby bulkhead.

"I'm not a mistake," Jack said aloud, more to herself than anyone else. Determined to prove it she started to warm up her muscles wouldn't go numb like they did the day before.

* * *

><p><em>Onboard the aircar, inbound to the estate of Donovan Hock<em>

"You know what bothers me, Shep? We stuffed a whole arsenal inside that statue but now I'm afraid that we might not need it," Kasumi noted as she was driving the aircar towards the Hock's estate. "People are going to be so busy starring at you I could probably steal their shoes from under their feet and they wouldn't notice."

"You're worried that we might have to figure a way to smuggle them out?" Victoria asked her. Kasumi shrugged: their original plan was to infiltrate the party, get into the vault and then fight their way out using the cargo exit. Kasumi suggested that the probability of them being discovered once they enter the vault would be very high. A direct assault on the mansion was out of the question - even with Shepard's team storming the place there was a great chance Hock might escape with the graybox. Also, even with Victoria's Spectre status, this would have created a needless conflict with Bekenstein authorities.

Therefore, Kasumi's plan was their best shot. Until Maeteris involved herself. Now they actually had a chance of pulling this off without firing a single shot.

"We stick to the original plan," Shepard told the thief. "If we'll be indeed lucky enough to pull this one without a fight, it is then and only then we'll worry about getting our stuff out."

"Very well," Kasumi said with a nod. "Get ready, Miss Gunn we have arrived."

Kasumi parked the aircar in front of an enormous mansion. The car's cabin opened, allowing Victoria to step out.

"Go ahead and meet our 'honorable' host," the thief told Shepard sarcastically and activated her stealth suit. "And don't worry, I'm right behind you."

Victoria started to walk slowly towards the entrance. She saw that Saren's statue was already delivered and a merc in black variant of the Eclipse armor was doing some scans with his omni-tool. Of course, unless this particular mercenary had an omni-tool as powerful as the stationary scanners on the Citadel, he was not going to detect the hidden recess in the statue's pedestal.

Shepard approached the merc from behind. "Something wrong with the statue, young man?"

The merc turned around with an annoyed was, probably offended by the 'young man' remark. He was about to reply when he saw Victoria and simply began to stare.

"So?" Shepard repeated her question, trying her best not to show amusement at the merc's reaction.

"Y-Yes, I mean no, of course not!" The guard was muttering incomprehensively. "I was just... That is... Ordered to... well..."

Shepard dug her nails into the palm of her hand, trying to suppress the burst of laughter.

"Is there a problem," came the thickly accented male voice from the house entrance. Shepard turned to look at the speaker and saw a man dressed in exquisite white suit approach them with a purposeful gait. This was none other than Donovan Hock. The man clearly believed himself to be the king of the world. For a moment Victoria wondered whether her guise was going to work with this man when she saw that it already did. As Hock started to get closer, the change in his stature was becoming more and more apparent. His steps became less certain, and his face quickly changed from that of powerful crime lord to that of shy teenager.

The merc turned to look at his boss and started blabbering. "Uh, no sir... I was just... The scan and there was... I mean I think there was... But then..."

Hock was only half listening to him; his attention was completely focused in Shepard. "I don't think we're acquainted. Donovan Hock."

Victoria saw that Hock was about to clasp his hands behind his back, probably because of a long habit of not shaking hands with other people. But then he quickly changed his mind and offered his hand to Shepard.

"Allison Gunn," Shepard introduced herself. Playing a role of a dominating woman, Victoria decided to push it a little further and offered him her hand, palm down. Hock didn't hesitate even for a moment before eagerly grabbing her hand and placing a kiss on it. "It is such a pleasure for me to finally meet the great Mr. Hock."

"Please, call me Donovan," Hock replied with a suave smile. "I must say, Miss Gunn, those pictures in the Badass Weekly? They do not do you justice."

"The original will be always better than its pale copies," Shepard told him.

"And you are the best person to confirm that statement," Hock said and invited her into the mansion.

"Um, sir... What about..." The merc tried to attract Hock's attention.

"Get it into the vault just like everything else," Hock hissed at the guard.

"Right sir, sorry to bother you."

"Idiot," Hock muttered and turned back to Shepard with a smile on his face. "I'm sorry Miss Gunn. It is hard to find a good staff these days."

"_Quickly, think what some puffed-up noble would say to this!_" Victoria told herself inwardly. Keeping her face neutral she turned to address Hock.

"Oh please, Donovan, there is no such thing as 'good staff' these days," Shepard told him and continued to walk towards the mansion's exit. "They simply vary in their degrees of incompetence."

Hock chuckled. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

As they entered Hock's mansion, Shepard the spacious hall filled with people dressed in expensive suits and gowns. Some of the women were dressed far more exquisitely than Victoria, yet still she was the one getting everyone's attention. All around Shepard, people were staring at her, their previous conversations forgotten because there was only one question that bothered them right now - who is _that_ woman?

Victoria saw an uncovered lust in the eyes of almost every man (and even several women) present, yet no one dared to make a move in Victoria's direction. She spared a sidelong glance at Hock and saw a possessive look on his face as he challenged his own guests to approach the woman he wanted all for himself. Once again it took all of Shepard's willpower not burst out laughing. She just entered the mansion and the people were already prepared to fight each other over her attention.

"I'm afraid I must leave you for a moment," Hock told her in an apologetic tone. "I must attend to my other guests. I do hope that we will have an opportunity to converse more privately later, Miss Gunn."

"_Do not smile, not yet,_" Victoria reminded herself. She turned to Hock and nodded slightly. "I'm looking forward to it, Donovan."

Hock grinned, bowed slightly and turned to approach one of the largest groups of people. Shepard decided to mingle a bit before finding a reclusive place where she could contact Kasumi. As she glided through the crowd she received many nods and greetings from almost everyone, although she was certain that she never saw these people before. The guests were doing it out of a simple desire to somehow attract her attention.

Victoria saw that the mansion had a great balcony that was slightly less crowded, and decided to move toward it. A curious sight caught her attention - an elderly man was sitting on the couch with two identically dressed asari flanking him, most likely his escorts. On further inspection, Shepard saw that the asari were not only indeticaally dressed, they were also identical twins. "_Old pervert is probably trying to compensate for something,_" Victoria thought to herself.

When she got closer to the couch where the said old man was sitting, Shepard saw that he almost immediately forgot about his escorts as he stared at Victoria with his mouth agape. But that was not what amused Shepard the most. The two asari were literally undressing her with their eyes, their desire was so apparent. Victoria knew that should she give them a wink, the two maidens would probably jump and tackle her on the spot.

Shepard was grinning inwardly. She was never a power-hungry woman but there was something enticing about having such strong influence over people. Victoria was certain that if right now she dropped something on the floor, dozens of people would rush to pick it up. And all this was because of makeup that was done in three minutes. "_Maeteris really knows this stuff_," Victoria thought to herself.

She finally managed to reach a secluded place on the balcony. After checking that there was no one in the immediate vicinity, Victoria contacted Kasumi.

"Right Kasumi, tell me you have some good news for me."

"This was fantastic job Shepard!" Kasumi replied gingerly. "Do you know that I managed to steal a million credits worth of jewelry while trying to get into Hock's private part of the mansion? You kept these people so occupied that it was a crime not to steal from them."

"Kasumi that is not what we are after," Shepard frowned.

"I know but it was like taking things from a mannequin!" The thief persisted. "Besides, we can spend this money on our noble goal saving the Galaxy, right?"

"Kasumi, the job!" Victoria reminded her.

"Right, right, the job. As I already mentioned, I managed to get into Hock's personal room," Kasumi said, returning to her more businesslike attitude. "I found the entrance to the vault. He's got the top of the line security here: Kinetic barrier, voice recognition and a DNA scanner."

"Is this going to be problematic?" Shepard asked the thief.

"Please, remember who you're talking to! It's simply a matter of time I need to open the vault," Kasumi replied. "Hock could have used a simple fifteen credits hanging lock. Would have spared us the time."

"What do you want me to do?" Victoria queried. She checked once again if anyone was listening.

"The only thing I need your help with is the recording of Hock's voice," the thief replied. "I don't think you're going to have much trouble trying to get him talking."

"All right, make sure you're ready for the recording," Shepard said and started to move back to the main hall. She scanned the room for any signs of Hock but was not able to spot him outright. Deciding that she should wait for a moment for him to appear, Victoria approached one of the abstract paintings hanging on the wall began to study it with fake interest. Personally, Shepard never understood abstract art. For her, the true beauty could only be found in natural things like sunsets, stars, nebulae and alien landscapes.

"It is called "The Dusk on Thessia"," came Hock's voice from behind Shepard. If Victoria was not a trained marine and N7 specialist, she would have jumped at the man's sudden appearance. But Shepard merely turned her head to look at him, accepting his presence.

"It was made by Fayure D'mal, and asari prodigy who was only 40 years old," Hock continued.

"Was?" Victoria asked him as she continued to study the picture.

"A most tragic story - the girl was killed on the Citadel during that whole mess with the geth," Hock elaborated. "They say that her mother, the revered Matriarch Arrenia D'mal was inconsolable over the loss of her only child. She became even more distraught when whole collection of her daughter's works was lost to the pirate attack on the ship that transported it back to Thessia. Or so they thought it was lost."

Inwardly, Shepard vowed to contact the Council of Thessia and inform the Matriarch D'mal of her daughter's paintings locations. If Hock somehow survived both Shepard and Kasumi, he was going to find out how terrible the wrath of the asari Matriarch can be.

"So daring of you to display this original work so openly," Victoria noted.

"And how do you know this is not very good copy?" Hock asked her with surprise.

"Please Donovan, why would you bother with a copy?" Shepard asked him in return. "We both know that singular people obtain such rare pieces because they appreciate its artistic value. You're not one of them. For you, it's a statement of your achievements, proof that you can own such thing because you can afford it."

Shepard turned and gave him a half smile as she continued. "It's a trophy, a trophy of a successful hunter. A most impressive trophy, I might add."

Now she had him. Victoria was certain that Hock's heart skipped a beat when she smiled to him. The man downed a glass of whiskey he had in one gulp, trying to calm himself down.

"Would you like to see some of my other... trophies?" Hock asked with apparent eagerness.

Victoria looked around the hall to see if there was anything else of note but Hock stopped her with a wave of his hand.

"Oh no, they are not here. Such rare things I keep inside my personal vault."

"If they are trophies, why they are not displayed openly?" Shepard asked.

"Trust me, when you see them, you will understand," Hock promised.

"Consider my curiosity piqued," Victoria said with a nod. She did her best not to show her excitement. The plan was working far better than she and Kasumi had hoped for. "But what about your guests? Wouldn't they feel abandoned by you?"

"I've arranged a few things to keep them occupied," Hock replied and offered her his hand. "Now, shall we?"

"Lead on," Shepard said and started to follow.

"Now we don't even need to crack open the vault?" Kasumi's voice came from Shepard's com. "Are you trying to put me out of business Shep? Now we only need to shut down the security cameras inside the vault."

_Inside Hock's vault..._

There were many statues inside the spacious vault - a statue of Michelangelo's David, statue of some Egyptian ruler, krogan statue, rachni statue. Even the Prothean statue like the ones Victoria saw on Ilos. But there was a part of one statue that took Shepard's breath away.

At the far end of the vault rested the head of none other but the Lady Liberty herself. The original statue was destroyed at the beginning of the Second American Civil War. When the new statue was constructed, the original's head was placed in the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. During the war, the head disappeared mysteriously.

And now it was hidden in the vault of a crime lord. Shepard reined her anger as she approached the statue and once again slipped into her role.

"My, my, my. Hock you weren't lying," Victoria turned her head to look at the man. She decided that it was time to deliver her final blow.

Putting on her most seductive smile, Shepard almost purred to Hock. "Consider me impressed, Donovan."

She turned to look back at the statue, waiting for his response. She didn't have to wait too long as Shepard felt Hock approach her slowly and place his hands on her waistline.

"Just how... impressed are you, miss Gunn?" Hock whispered in her ear.

Victoria made a fake chuckle. "So eager, aren't you?"

"You don't know just how desirable you are right now, Allis..." Hock continued to whisper.

"Be careful Don," Shepard warned him. "We are not alone here."

"What do you mean? It's just the two of us. No one else." Hock asked her, clearly puzzled by her statement.

"Please, Donovan. Your security is probably glued to their monitors at the moment," Vitoria reminded him. She turned around to look him straight in the eyes. "I don't know about you, but I like to keep such things in private."

Hock was clearly not thinking with his head at the moment. Instead of inviting her to his room, he did what Shepard hoped he would: he activated his com and started to contact his security. Hock must have wanted her so badly that he was not taking any chances.

"Roe, this is Hock," the crime lord said into his com as he turned around made a couple of steps away from Victoria. "Deactivate all security in the vault now and do not activate it unless I specifically order you to do it."

There was a garbled reply on the other end of the line.

"I said, do it!" Hock hissed.

There was a short reply that seemed to satisfy Hock. He turned around to look at Victoria. "There, it's done. Now that we are alone... Urgh..."

Hock convulsed, as if he was electrocuted and then he fell on the floor face down. Shepard saw smirking Kasumi stand over his body.

Victoria relaxed immediately as returned to her own self.

"My God, Kasumi! Remind me to never speak badly about film or theater actors ever again!" Victoria told the thief. "I mean, they do this sort of thing their whole life! How could they stand it?"

"I don't know Shepard but let me tell you this: you were amazing!" Kasumi replied. "I promise you, when we get out of here, I'm going to steal an Oscar, a Golden Palm Branch, a Golden Lion, a Golden Globe and whatever other award there is and give them to you. You've earned them all, seriously."

"You should get two of each. The second set goes to Maeteris for best makeup," Shepard smirked.

"Deal," Kasumi replied and looked at the head of the Statue of Liberty. "Shepard, do you think we could do something about it? I mean, I'm a thief but this just wrong."

"I know," Shepard said and took out her omni-tool from her purse. She made several pictures of the head and other things present in the building. "Trust me, I already have plans that will also solve our problem with our gear."

"Good," Kasumi nodded and started to work on her own omni-tool. "Give me a few seconds to trace the graybox."

A low beeping sound started to sound from the thief's tool as she moved around the vault. Soon she stopped and picked up a small gadget lying on one of the displays.

"I found it!" Kasumi declared.

"Good, now let's get out of here," Shepard told the thief.

"How do we do it?" Kasumi asked her.

"Simple. We wait for at least ten minutes, and then we walk out of the front door!" Victoria said with a grin.

"You're sure?" Kasumi asked uncertainly.

"Trust me," Shepard assured the thief.

They started to wait. Shepard's plan was to make people think that "something" happened between her and Hock, so that her sudden leave would raise less suspicion.

Victoria saw Kasumi approach Hock's unconscious body. The thief studied the body silently for a few seconds and then made a flicking movement with her left hand. It activated her omni-tool and then, to Shepard's great surprise, it transformed into some kind of short shimmering blade. Victoria knew that Kasumi was adept at close combat but she never actually saw the thief carry any kind of bladed weapon.

Shepard knew what Kasumi was about to do and quietly approached her from behind.

"I know what you want to say Shepard," Kasumi told her in a heavy voice. "That it is wrong to kill an unconscious person. But he killed Keiji... Only because the man knew too much."

"I know, Kas, and trust me I'm not going to stop you," Victoria told her. "Just remember that this is not going to bring Keiji back. And it's really not you. You are a playful ninja. A thief with a heart of gold. A prankster. You're not a cold hearted killer."

"Yeah, I know," Kasumi said quietly. "Just promise me that we are not going to leave him like that."

"Oh don't worry, he'll get what's coming to him," Shepard promised her.

"Good," the thief nodded and deactivated her blade. "Is it time to leave?"

"Yeah, I think we can go now," Victoria said and started to move towards the elevator. "What was that thing you did with your omni-tool?"

"Oh that? It's a prototype upgrade that's called and 'Omni-blade'," Kasumi replied and activated the blade once again. "I stole it a year ago from a research facility. A handy thing to have. Word on the street is that soon those things will flood the market."

"Do you know where we can get some ahead of time?" Shepard asked the thief.

"I know a few contacts who might help with that," Kasumi replied. "I'll call them as soon as we get back on the Normandy."

Getting out of the mansion proved to be extremely easy. Once they exited Hock's private room, some of the guards started to grin lecherously at Shepard. All Victoria needed was one immolating glare towards them which, combined with her guise, forced the guards to look away in embarrassment.

As Shepard exited the mansion she approached her car and waited for Kasumi to reveal herself.

"So, we're out," Kasumi said as she deactivated her stealth field. "Now, what was that you've mentioned?"

Victoria grinned. "I think we can abuse Maeteris' gift a little bit more."

* * *

><p>"<em>Asari and humans are always the hardest<em>," colonel Yanush Lisowsky of Bekenstein Security Enforcement thought to himself as he placed tiny blue dots on a miniature figurine of Liara T'Soni. Both species had very complex facial expressions and even a simple mistake could destroy the character of the figurine. Most collectors of miniatures never bothered themselves too much with faces, but Yanush was not like them. To him, every detail of the figurine was important.

Few people knew of colonel's fascination with miniatures. For him it was more than a simple hobby, it was what saved him from dying of boredom. His position of one of the most senior security officers on Bekenstein was dreadfully dull. Most of the crime on Bek was of economic nature and it was the Tax Police duty to deal with those. There was little actual homicide, burglary or any other, simpler crime. Not that Yanush thought it was a bad thing but he yearned for at least some action. Therefore, he started to paint miniatures to keep his mind entertained.

His latest project was a diorama called "The Battle for the Presidium", where Spectre Shepard's team, along with several C-sec officers were depicted fighting the geth. It was almost complete; the last piece was the member of Shepard's team, Liara T'Soni. Briefly, Lisowsky wondered what was it like fighting alongside the famous Spectre, could he have been there if he actually managed to pass that qualification test for C-sec three years ago.

Yanush sighed. People like him were destined for simpler things, like this boring posting on Bekenstein. Nothing happened here.

"Colonel, sir," came the voice of Giselle, Lisowsky's assistant. "You have an incoming video call."

"I believe that I was very clear that I was not to be disturbed," Yanush said, annoyed at this interference.

"I know sir, but she says it is very urgent," Giselle told him nervously. "It's… I don't know how to put it but its Spectre Agent Shepard, believe it or not."

Lisowsky was stunned for a moment. At first, he thought that his subordinates were pulling a prank on him. But on Bekenstein everyone held dearly to their positions, no one would ever risk their careers for simple laugh.

Yanush of course heard reports that 'dead' Spectre was actually alive and well, that it was so kind of top secret cover story. He wondered what Shepard wanted from him. Was she here, on Bekenstein?

Quickly he removed the unfinished figurine from his table and adjusted his uniform. "Patch her through, Giselle."

"Yes sir."

His console's display flickered and in a moment he was looking at a stunning woman dressed in an exquisite black gown. It took him several minutes to recognize the features of Shepard. Judging by the background she was indeed on Bekenstein. Shepard smiled with her trademark smile as she started speaking.

"Colonel Lisowsky, this is Spectre Agent Shepard. Thank you for sparing your time to accept my call," the woman introduced herself; her voice removed any doubts of her identity. "Sorry for my attire, I've been doing some undercover work of late."

It took all his willpower for Lisowsky not to start blabbering. "It is perfectly understandable, Agent Shepard. We at the Bekenstein Security are no strangers to undercover work. If I can comment, your disguise suits you very much."

"Thank you, Colonel," Shepard said with another smile. "Now sir, you probably guessed that this isn't a social call. There is an urgent matter I wish to bring to your attention."

Yanush's palms started to itch because of excitement. "How can I be of service, ma'am?"

"Well, there is something I discovered during my undercover work. Does the name Donovan Hock means anything to you?..."

* * *

><p>Shepard's plan worked perfectly. In an hour, Hock's mansion was filled to the brim with Bekenstein Security officers. Hock was arrested on sight, the content of his vault was evidence enough to ensure that he spends several hundreds of years in prison, if he was lucky enough to somehow live that long.<p>

Shepard managed to easily recover her gear and then she left on her shuttle, her Spectre status ensuring that no questions were asked.

_Aboard the Kodiak shuttle, en route to the Normandy…_

"What should I do, Shepard?" Kasumi asked as tears run down her face, and Shepard understood why. The information on the graybox was irrevocably encrypted within Keiji's memories. There was no way of destroying one without destroying the other.

"Keep it," Victoria replied simply.

"You sure?" Kasumi asked hopefully. "You saw the information he found…"

"Kasumi, even if we destroy the graybox, the people who know that we have it now would still come for us eventually," Shepard told the thief. "We will have to face them one day, so we might as well keep the graybox. As for the information itself… My mother always taught me that the truth will always come out, one way or another."

"I see," Kasumi said quietly. "Shepard, I…"

"Just promise me one thing, Kas," Victoria interrupted the thief. "Promise me that you will not lose yourself in those memories. Unlike me, Keiji is not coming back."

"I know Shepard," Kasumi said with a nod. She hid the graybox in her pocket and added. "Thank you, Shepard. For everything."

"It's Victoria for you, Kasumi," Shepard said with a smile.

* * *

><p>The shuttle finally reached the Normandy. The door opened and both Kasumi and Victoria stepped out to find several crew members waiting for them.<p>

Gallardi was the first one to address them. The man seemed to be the only one to be completely immune to the Shepard's current charms.

"Commander, I take it the mission was a success."

"Yes, and it went much more smoothly than we expected, thanks to Maeteris' help," Shepard replied.

"Hm. I'm sure she'll be delighted to know that," Gallardi muttered.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to return to my old self," Victoria said and went to the elevator.

Kasumi chuckled and shook her head. She took out Keiji's graybox and looked at it. It felt good to finally have at least some part of him for her to remember.

"Hey Kasumi. You alright?" came Jacob's voice from behind her. "You seem to be a bit… lost."

Kasumi turned around and grinned at him. "No, no, I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"Oh, that's good," Jacob said. "I take it you have your friend's graybox. You… probably want to spend some time alone."

Kasumi giggled. That's what she liked the most about Jacob – ever the gentleman. Of course, him being a real eye candy was also the thing she liked the most, but that was beyond the point. He was smart, funny and could also kick some serious butt in the fight. Many women would consider him a real prize.

During her stay at the Normandy, Kasumi gave Jacob certain signals to show him she was interested. She knew that he got them and she knew that Jacob was interested in her too. But when Kasumi told the crew about Keiji, Jacob became slightly distant, probably thinking that he was just a substitute for Kasumi's dead lover.

Kasumi looked down at graybox. Shepard was right – Keiji isn't coming back. It is best that he remains a fond memory of something Kasumi once had and not a bitter regret about something Kasumi once lost. Keiji was gone but Jacob was here. Stuffing the graybox into her suit, Kasumi looked at Jacob with a warm smile.

"You know, I was actually thinking about getting something to eat," she told Jacob. "That whole business with Hock left me so hungry I can eat a horse. Care to keep me company?"

Jacob smiled. "When you say it like that, how can I refuse?"

They started walking towards the elevator.

"Hey, do you think Gallardi is going to tell another story today?" Kasumi asked.

"After what he told us yesterday, I don't think something can beat that," Jacob replied with a shrug. "I mean, he was talking about a living God."

"Call it a gut feeling but I think he will surprise us," Kasumi told him and they entered the elevator.

* * *

><p>"Captain, important news. The data formatting is complete," Gallardi heard Mordin say. "EDI is still working on the translation, but I have transferred all the data on the datapad. You can check if everything is displayed as it should be."<p>

August looked up from his food to see the salarian standing in front of him with a datapad in his outstretched hand. Gallardi took the datapad with a nod.

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

Mordin quickly nodded and walked away. August activated the datapad and started to look through the files. The interface was different from Imperial cogitators but the names of files and folders were displayed correctly. Gallardi clicked on the "Personal" folder, eager to see if the part most important to him was preserved.

The letters seemed to be okay. August scrolled the screen down to see if the picture, her picture, was working properly. It was.

Gallardi heard a whistle nearby. "Look at that! Hey Kasumi, check Gallardi's datapad."

August couldn't help but chuckle. It seems that the people's reaction was always the same to this picture. It didn't matter whether you were in the Schola's dormitory, the Guard's barracks or in the mess hall of a strange ship in another dimension.

"Wow, she looks cute," Kasumi said as she leaned closer. "Come on, Captain! Show us."

Gallardi knew by now that people would not drop the issue. Therefore he passed the datapad to Jacob. There was a loud noise of several people leaving their seats and gather around Jacob in order to look at the picture. It was an image of a stunning woman dressed in blue uniform of the Imperial Navy. Her hand was resting on the pommel of her power saber. Her light blue eyes, traditional to the majority of the Harakon's nobility, contrasted starkly with the mane of bright red hair. She had a warm half smile on her face that only accented her patrician features.

Shepard was the first to speak. "Alright Gallardi. Time to talk. Who is the lucky girl?"

"_Emperor's blood, they even ask the same question_," Gallardi thought to himself. He looked up at the assembled group before replying.

"You're looking at the image of Arcadia Livingston. And before you ask: no, she is not my girlfriend, wife, lover, concubine or 'the girl I knew'."

"Then who is she?" Kelly asked eagerly.

"She is, in fact, my mother," August replied.

"Your old man is one lucky son of a bitch," Zaeed grumbled. "No offense."

Gallardi didn't take offense because six years ago Sergeant Sorenson said exactly the same phrase.

"If she is your mother why do you have a different surname," Miranda asked.

"I had to take my father's second name," Gallardi replied. "The Livingstons are one of the Harakon's oldest naval dynasties. To carry their name is to be part of that dynasty but I was sort of 'illegitimate child' in the dynasty's leader's eyes. It was a minor issue, barely worth mentioning."

Shepard looked at the picture. "Your mother is a Navy officer? Did she captain a ship?"

"Yes, she was a Captain of the Dauntless-class light cruiser 'Wings of Harakon'," Gallardi replied.

"Was?" Kelly asked uncertainly.

"She laid down her life in the service to the Emperor when I was ten," August said with pride in his voice.

The room was silent for a moment. "I very sorry to hear that," Kelly said.

"Don't be, Miss Chambers. It was a noble death," Gallardi told her.

"What happened?" Shepard asked as she returned to her seat.

"Well, you remember about the 13th Black Crusade..." Gallardi relayed the story of his mother's demise. The crew listened inventively up until the moment where he mentioned the estimated enemy casualties.

"Wait a goddamn second," Zaeed said. "You said 300,000 people? Just how big that troopship was?"

"It was a mass conveyance ship, it can carry dozens of regiments," Gallardi explained. "In terms of size it is somewhere between a cruiser and a battleship - from 6 to 7 kilometers, depending on the ship's class."

"Fucking seven kilometers..." Zaeed muttered

"Come on, you're pulling our legs on this one. Right?" Gabriella asked him incredulously.

"Highly improbable, would require an enormous element zero core..." Mordin mumbled and then corrected himself. "No, no, no! Do not use element zero. Ship construction is not limited by the complexity of the core required. Still, ship of such proportions would require a prodigious power source. Fusion reactors would be too inefficient. Must have more data..."

August smiled at their reaction. "I have studied your ship's classification in my free time. No offense, but you simply don't understand just how ridiculously small your ships are. Take the Normandy as an example - by your standards it is called 'super frigate'. By Imperial standards it is a light corvette."

Shepard looked at the ceiling with a grin and shouted. "You heard that Joker? You're flying a light corvette."

"I resent that, Commander," came the pilot's voice over the PA. "My baby is super frigate and I don't care what some folks from another dimension say."

"What about your frigates?" Jacob asked August.

"Depending on the ship's class, Imperial frigates can be from 1.5 to 3 kilometers," Gallardi replied simply.

"Bigger than Destiny Ascension," Miranda said in awe. "Even bigger than Sovereign was."

"And that is just an escort ship," Shepard added. "How about cruisers and... battleships, right?"

Gallardi nodded. "The 'Wings of Harakon' was a little over 4 kilometers. Most of the light cruisers are somewhere around that size. Cruisers vary between 5 and 6 kilometers. The battleships - from 6 to 8 km."

"Would have been nice to have a couple of those monsters," Goldstein noted. "I mean, imagine the kind of firepower those battleships pack. All we have to do then is to sit tight, wait for Reapers to arrive and then just... Pew! Pew! Problem solved."

"I know I'm going to regret this, but I'll bite," Shepard said and leaned closer. "Tell us Gallardi: what is the biggest ship of the Imperial Navy?"

"The 'Phalanx', mobile fortress monastery of the Imperial Fists Astartes Chapter," Gallardi replied automatically. "I don't know the actual measurements, but it should be enormous. People say that up to twelve cruisers can dock with it."

"Spirits, it's probably bigger than the Citadel," Garrus muttered. "And it can travel between stars. How does one build something like that?"

"No one knows actually," Gallardi replied with a shrug. "The creation of 'Phalanx' predates the foundation of the Imperium."

The silence that followed that statement was deafening.

* * *

><p>Maeteris felt that she was making progress. The people of this ship began to trust her and in return she was more at ease with their presence. She even noticed that she no longer referred to humans as Mon-Keigh, unless they absolutely deserved it.<p>

As a result, her visions became clearer with each divination. Today she even decided to try and reach further into the future. She already cast her runes and they were floating around her peacefully, helping Maeteris to focus her mind. The Farseer took a deep breath and began sorting through the flickering images of the future.

_She saw a world of verdant plains. She saw a small town made of crude, similarly shaped houses. A human colony._

_She saw humans running and screaming. They were chased by a swarm of fist sized bugs. Whenever the bugs touched a human the victim fell on the ground, paralyzed. Then Maeteris saw the Collectors advance through the colony and gather the helpless humans._

_The image shifted. This time, the Collectors, along with some sort of disgusting hybrid of humans and machines, once again advanced through the same colony. Only this time they were not unopposed. Concentrated fire from colony's defenders killed them in scores._

_Maeteris saw Shepard, Gallardi and other members of the crew among the defenders. She was also present. She saw her own hands unleash her power upon the collectors and their servants._

_She noticed as one of the Collectors started to glow. Its body began to cover in glowing cracks as if it struggled to contain a much bigger essence. The glowing Collector flew towards her and she was about to destroy it, the essence from within the Collector spoke to her in a booming voice._

_"ELDAR!"_

* * *

><p><em>AN: I think we could use a small cliffhanger._

_Also, I've decided to add several facts about how this story came to be._

_Did you know? Victoria Shepard was originally invented as a character for my first fanfic that was never written. It was supposed to be a Mass Effect self insert. Yes, I once wanted to write an SI. I'm so glad I've managed to see the error of my ways._


	11. The defense of the Horizon

_Authors Note: There are two main reasons for this chapter's delay. The first one - ME 3. The second one is that CH 11 is the biggest chapter so far, over 18k words._

_A week ago I wanted to rant about ME 3 endings but now I think that this whole mess was planned from the very beginning. There will be a DLC, something akin to Witch Hunt for Dragon age. I have no doubt about it. Nevertheless, the ending gave me some ideas about the nature of the Reapers. Even the Catalyst will have a small role in this story, although it's going to be a very short one._

_Our next issue - reviews. You do understand that I was joking when I said that this story needs more reviews? Not that I mind it terribly but let's be serious - 58 reviews? 46 reviews were written for CH 10 alone. Some completed fanfics have less reviews!_

_I also wanted to thank whoever recommended my story on the spacebattles forums. Thank you sir (or lady)! :)_

_Now, some replies to the anonymous reviews._

_Ethereal Ro'Jak,__ NIX,_ _baynard,__ nate, __zognorf, __Thomas__: Thanks for the comments! Stay tuned for more!_

_Axcel: I don't know, maybe. You'll have to wait and see! :P_

_Shash: Don't worry, this story is not going to die. Not quietly at least. If such a terrible thing ever happens I'll inform everyone. But I assure you, I'm very determined to finish both this story and its sequel._

_Nestor: It's an interesting idea about Javik. I'll think about it. And no, those endings are not going to happen._

_Lawless: You are correct about Gallardi. He is not going to leave Terra until the last of the Reapers is reduced to scrap._

_Now, onto the next chapter. Before we start I want to make an important announcement to all Warhammer 40k fans. Yes, I know that the eldar were created by the Old Ones to battle the C'tans and the Necrontir. I'm also aware that at the height of their power the eldar would have curb-stomped the Reapers without breaking a sweat. But, the ME'verce is an alternate dimension to the Warhammer40k. Therefore, I've changed the eldar's origins. In ME universe they evolved and developed naturally, just like most of the other races. I hope you'll like how I've finally resolved the mystery of their absence in ME.  
><em>

_Let the show begin!  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: The defense of the Horizon.<strong>

**Location: Normand SR-2, Maeteris' cabin.**

The Farseer's eyes snapped open.

"_How_?" Maeteris asked herself. How did that Collector know about her kin? Was that even a Collector? It looked like it was possessed by something, although it was unlike any daemonic possession she had ever seen. Usually, when a daemon possessed someone, it warped the body of the host to suit their perverted taste. Still, if it was a daemon then there were two explanations of how the said daemon might have recognized her.

First: the daemon somehow managed to slip into this realm along with Maeteris and Gallardi, and therefore was familiar with the eldar race.

Second: it was a local entity. And it also meant that the eldar once inhabited this dimension before something forced the star of the eldar homeworld to die prematurely, turning the whole system into the neutron star. Because daemons were essentially immortal, this one could have witnessed all those events.

There was also a vain hope that some of the Farseer's kin escaped the catastrophe that had befallen their homeworld. Maybe, just maybe there has been some small colony somewhere out there unnoticed by other species.

Maeteris decided not to get her hopes up. Whatever the reason was, the entity from the vision recognized her and she needed to know how. She had to warn Shepard about this. Maybe they would help her recognize the world that was about to be attacked.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, in the Normandy's mess hall...<em>

"Not only is it humanity's biggest ship, it's also over 10,000 years old?" Shepard asked incredulously. Not counting the Reapers, the oldest ships Shepard had ever heard of were the quarian Flotilla life-ships. Tali said that those were over 300 years old and it was a testament to the quarian ingenuity that those ships were still flying.

"But that means that the ship is ridiculously outdated," Gabby noted.

"Outdated? It should have fallen apart by now, mainly because of metal fatigue," Kenneth supplied.

Gallardi shrugged. "I guess the Adeptus Mechanicus adepts are very good at their rites."

"Mentioned the organization before," Mordin addressed the man. "Some kind ministry of science and technological development?"

"You could say that, although the term religious cult would be more appropriate," Gallardi replied.

"Another religion? Cult of technology?" Mordin started to ask quickly. "Was certain that Imperium only allowed the existence of the Church of the Emperor."

"It is allowed because such was the will of the Emperor when he forged an alliance between Mars and Terra at the dawn of the Imperium," Gallardi told him. "And the Mechanicus venerates the Emperor in its own arcane way."

"They do?" Kelly asked.

"One Magos, it's a rank of a senior adept among the Cult Mechanicus, explained to me that his cult worships a Machine God - an eminent and omnipotent spirit that governs all machinery and knowledge in the universe. They also revere the God-Emperor as an Omnisiah - the Machine God clad in human form," Gallardi explained. "You see, the Emperor is not only a wise and charismatic leader, a powerful psyker and a peerless strategist. He is also a brilliant scientist; he created the Astartes and the Astronomican after all."

"Veneration because of the notable scientific achievements," Mordin conceded. "Makes sense."

"To you, maybe. It's the most bizarre religion I have ever heard," Miranda remarked cynically. "I mean, it's a technological cult! They should base their beliefs on logic and scientific method but instead they believe that there is a great spirit that governs the machinery?"

"They also believe that any sufficiently advanced piece of technology has its own machine spirit that needs to be appeased in order to make the said technology work properly," the captain said with a shrug.

Miranda snorted. "Right. And you believe that?"

Gallardi sighed heavily. "Honestly, Lawson, that's a tough question to answer. The common people of the Imperium consider Mechanicus adepts to be a bunch of weirdos. They tell us, Guardsmen, that we should recite a special litany each time we reload our weapon. Personally, I have stopped doing that after my first real firefight but my weapons never failed me."

Kasumi raised her hand in question. "Do these tech adepts use holy hand grenades?" the thief asked and started giggling. She looked around and saw that everyone stared at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, I just... Never mind, I'll just shut up."

Gallardi continued. "Also, remember what I've told you about servitors? Guess what, the techpriests willingly turn themselves into machines so they can be closer to the image of the Machine God. Because they believe that the flesh is weak."

There was a look of slight revulsion on everyone's faces. Gallardi continued with his explanation.

"On the other hand, the Mechanicus manages to make thousand year old machines like starships or Titans work. They control enormous Forge Worlds, which are, essentially, planets with continent spanning factories that feed the Imperial war machine with ammunition, vehicles and ships. Their methods may be strange, but we cannot argue with the results."

"Well, if you put it that way..." Miranda began to reply, but was interrupted by Maeteris, who almost burst out of her room.

"The Collectors will attack. Soon," the eldar said without preamble. "On the world of verdant pastures where autumn has just begun. We need to make haste if we're to save the colonists."

It took a couple of seconds for Victoria to realize what has just been said.

"What planet? Where?" Shepard asked hastily. "Do you know the name of the planet?"

The eldar shook her head. "I was hoping you could help me identify it."

"That description could fit a dozen colonies in the Terminus," Miranda noted.

"There are a lot of pastures on Horizon. I was stationed there once," Goldstein said with worry in her voice. "And I think it's already autumn there."

"New Canton is also a very green planet," Rolston noted, even more worried. "Commander, please we need to check it! My family is still…"

"Alright, stop it Rolston. We need to absolutely certain which planet it is before we commence," Shepard told her crew members. "We'll only have one shot at this."

"Did you see anything else? Anything particularly notable?" Gallardi addressed Maeteris. "Like architecture, symbols on the walls. Badges on people's uniforms."

The Farseer closed her eyes and was silent for a moment. "There was a woman among the defenders. A warrior who seemed to know you very well, Commander Shepard. She has a darker complexion and she wears the symbol of your Systems Alliance proudly."

Victoria recognized the woman immediately. "Ashley? Ashley Williams?"

Once again the eldar shook her head. "I do not know her name."

"Right, right! Somebody, get me a picture of Ashley," Shepard shouted to everyone present.

"Here, I got it," Garrus replied and activated his omni-tool. He approached the eldar and showed her the group picture of the first Normandy's crew. "She's the one on Shepard's right."

Maeteris briefly looked at the picture and nodded. "Yes, that is her. I'm certain."

"So the Chief Williams is currently on the colony world that is about to be attacked by the Collectors," Miranda concluded it. "Damn it, the Illusive man claimed to have no intel on her location thanks to the fact that her file was classified."

"Then it's a good thing I know exactly the person we should ask about Ashley's whereabouts," Shepard said as she stood up and looked at the ceiling. "EDI? Contact Admiral Hackett immediately. Use my Systems Alliance authorization, my Spectre authorization. Whatever gets it done."

"I'm establishing a connection, Commander," the AI replied.

"Good, patch it through to the Com Room," Victoria said and started to walk towards the elevators when she stopped abruptly. "Wait. Mordin what's the status of the countermeasures?"

"Believe that I'm finished, Shepard. Although still need to run a couple of tests to confirm my theories," the salarian noted.

"Your test will only confirm that you're correct," the Farseer told him. "Start the manufacture and create more than you've planned. There will be other soldiers present on the surface. We could use them to bolster the colony's defenses."

"Yes, yes good suggestion. Will need spare working hands to help me," Mordin nodded eagerly. "Anyone with at least some engineering experience should come with me."

"I will also be going with you on this mission," Maeteris stated. "I might be able to help confuse even further whatever machines these Collectors use."

Shepard was not certain if she heard it correctly. "You're coming with us?"

"Yes. Something important will be revealed to me on this planet. It is imperative that I'm present," the Farseer said ominously.

"We welcome whatever help you offer," Victoria thanked the eldar. "Right, crew – to your stations. The ground team? Start checking your gear. Miranda, as soon I finish talking with HighCom, I want everyone present in the debriefing room."

**Location: Arcturus station, Admiral Hackett's office.**

"I already told you, Professor Hummel, it's not that easy," Hackett told the head of Alliance R&D department. Ever since they got their hands on the blueprints Shepard provided them with, the scientists kept plaguing Hackett with demands of immediate retrieval of all three prototypes for deeper study.

"But she is an officer of the Alliance!" The elderly Professor Hummel argued in his thick German accent. "Surely if you give her a direct order she cannot disobey!"

"You seem to keep forgetting that she is also a Council Spectre, which means that technically she absolutely beyond my jurisdiction," Hackett reminded him. "She is also on a critical mission in the Terminus Systems. Thousands of human lives depend on it."

"Ja, I understand but believe me, the secrets these weapons can reveal could be Galaxy shaking!" Hummel persisted. "They could alter our view of how the Universe exists."

Hackett looked at him incredulously. "How? I mean, it's a weapon. An incredibly advanced weapon, no doubt, but…"

"Ah, for you it's just a weapon. But it is the technology behind it that is more important," Hummel interrupted him. "Take the laser rifle for example. The weapon is advanced, very advanced. Potent enough that it may end the era of kinetic weaponry. It is also quite universal. But what has caught our attention is weapons power source. You see it is not just a capacitor with extremely high yield. It also seems it has a slight entropic effect. It can be recharged by simply placing it near a source of heat for example. It will probably degrade the quality of the power source in time but still, imagine the possibilities!"

"Next one – the plasma weapon. First, I want to remind you that we are talking about _real plasma weapons_, not the pseudo plasma weaponry of the geth," Hummel continued. "Now, while the weapon is probably unimaginably powerful, it is the principle of how it turns the gas component and contains it in a single bolt that is far more valuable for us. If we understand it, well we may finally stop using fusion reactors once and for all. We will have an absolutely new source of energy – plasma energy!"

Before Hackett managed to interrupt the overexcited professor, the man continued.

"But it was the sword, yes, the sword that robbed me of my sleep, admiral. The blade itself is of excellent craftsmanship, whoever created it knows much more about metallurgy than we do," Hummel inhaled deeply and continued. "However, the main mystery of the sword is the field it creates when activated. It should be… well it shouldn't be! It is a graviton field – something that was considered a myth, a fancy tale from sci-fi novels. If I haven't seen the readings myself I would have laughed at the people talking about it. Now I'm not certain if I'm worthy of a title of professor of astrophysics. Because now I know that the laws of the Universe are far more complex than we thought they were!"

Hackett was silent for a moment. "Alright Hummel, you've made your point. But I can't promise you anything. Even contacting Commander Shepard could be problematic, let alone…"

It was at that moment Hackett's terminal beeped suddenly. It was a call from the admiral's adjutant and was marked as urgent.

"What is it?" Hackett asked as he accepted the call.

"I'm sorry sir but its Staff Commander Shepard once again. She says it's a matter of life and death."

Hackett suddenly felt a bit cold. "_God, please don't let it be the Reapers. We're simply not ready_!" He thought.

"Patch her through," he told his adjutant and once again saw the hologram of Shepard appear.

"Commander, I was told you have some urgent news for me?" The admiral asked Shepard.

"I've got to keep this one short, Admiral. I need to know where is Operation Chief Ashley Williams is."

Hackett sighed with immense relief. "You had me worried for a moment Shepard; I thought that this was about… Never mind. As for Chief Williams?" The admiral asked and sighed once again. "Commander, you know I can't tell you that. Not when Cerberus is listening to us."

"It's not about Cerberus, admiral," Shepard said with a clear urgency in her voice. "She and whatever colony world she is on at the moment are going to be attacked by the Collectors. Time is of the essence. I need to know what colony that is!"

"_How did she know Williams was on a colony world_?" Hackett asked himself. "Who is your source Shepard? Is it Cerberus?"

"No, but I trust this source completely," the Commander told him.

"You have to give me a bit more than that, Shepard." Hackett stated and crossed his arms.

Shepard was silent for a good ten seconds. "Very well, Admiral. Recently I've come across a member of previously never encountered alien species called the eldar. Said alien has an uncanny ability to predict future events. She predicted that, I quote, 'the Collectors will attack. Soon. On the world of verdant pastures where autumn has just begun'. And that Williams would be there."

Hackett expected anything but _that_. Before he managed to form a response, the Commander interrupted him.

"Admiral, I know it is hard to wrap around your head something like that but I only speak the truth and you know it. You also know what happened the last time you ignored my warnings."

The Admiral made his decision. "Horizon, Shepard. Operation Chief Williams is on Horizon."

Shepard nodded. "I will not forget this, Admiral. Shepard out."

"Wait, Commander. I'll try to send whatever reinforcements I can. There is no way I'm letting you do this with one frigate," Hackett promised.

"Thank you sir, we'll hold them off until the cavalry arrives," Shepard replied.

With that, her image winked out. Hackett sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he remembered that Hummel was still present in his room. He looked up at the elderly professor and asked.

"Tell me professor; is it possible to predict future events?"

"Well, we can predict possible outcomes of our actions, we can predict the weather but all those predictions are based on measurements, calculations and the information we possess at the moment," Hummel replied. "But to simply see the event happen like you're some kind of gypsy fortune teller? No, I think it's a myth."

"A myth, you say? Just like these graviton fields were?" Hackett asked him.

"Well… that is…" the professor said with a sigh, not finding compelling arguments to contradict the Admiral.

Hackett groaned and rubbed his temples. "_Since when did warfare become so complicated_?" He asked himself.

**Location: Normand SR-2, Briefing room.**

The briefing room was buzzing with activity as members of the ground team were discussing the plans for the defense of the colony. Everyone was present except Mordin, who was busy manufacturing the countermeasures for the Collector's swarms. Goldstein was also present since she once was on Horizon and had some knowledge about the settlements on the planet.

"There are many outlying farms on the Horizon but I suspect that the Collectors are going to target the planet's main city - Discovery," Goldstein told the assembled crew. The hologram of the planet that was floating around the table changed, revealing the latest available scans of the city.

"The city has no surface-to-orbit defense, only several anti-air turrets," Goldstein continued. "In case of a significant pirate raid, which is frequent in the Terminus Systems, most of the colonists will hide in the several safe houses in the center of the city. The garrison will bunker down around those houses and wait until someone responds to the call for aid or the pirates loot the place and leave."

"The Collectors wouldn't want to loot the colony, they are here for the colonists," Shepard commented. "I think the best course of action would be for us to reinforce the perimeter defense and deny the Collectors..."

"Perimeter defense won't be necessary," Maeteris intervened. "In my vision, I saw the Collectors and their thralls simply advance under our fire from one direction without any kind of battle formation or tactics. They don't even seem to care about their losses. It was as if there were no individuals among them. Like there was a hive mind that drove them to their objective. I suppose this would correspond with their insectoid appearance."

"Are you certain?" Miranda asked. "The Collectors are one of the most advanced races in the Galaxy. It is very unlikely for them to be so primitive about the battle tactics."

"Maybe they too think that they are superior to everyone else," Gallardi suggested. "Therefore they rely on their paralyzing swarms to do the job so they can gather their helpless victims. As such, they became complacent, and should their swarms fail, they choose the simplest solution for battle - to swarm the enemy with superior numbers."

There was a murmur of agreements around the table.

"I agree with the Captain's assessment," Maeteris said with a nod. "Therefore we will only need to form one front with two mobile flanking units. We lure them in and close the trap."

"Good idea," Shepard agreed. "Do you know their probable attack vector?"

The eldar looked at the map and shook her head. "I cannot say by looking at this map. When we are on the planet's surface, I will be able to give you straight answer."

"Very well, we'll figure it out on the spot," Victoria said with a nod. "Another thing. What can we expect in terms of the enemy's numbers?"

"There will be hundreds of them," Maeteris said neutrally. "Maybe even over one thousand."

"Damn it," Shepard said with a sigh. "Well it does make sense. They would need a lot of manpower to gather all the colonists. Goldstein, what's the size of the Discovery's garrison?"

"Somewhere around six hundred, although only a hundred of them might be worth something," the pilot shrugged. "The others are just civilians with guns."

"Even then, we're not going to have enough of the countermeasure for them all," Victoria conceded.

"I will be able to create an illusion shroud that will confuse the swarms," the Farseer offered. "Your countermeasures should be used as a contingency plan. Distribute them among the most capable warriors."

"Thank you Farseer, that is a good idea," Shepard said. "But I still don't like the odds. This battle is not going to be won by infantry alone. Goldstein?"

"Ma'am?" The pilot stood straight.

"Make sure that Kodiak and the Hammerhead are loaded for bear," Victoria ordered. "You and Miranda are going to provide close air support."

"Aye, aye ma'am," Goldstein saluted.

"Will do, Commander," Miranda said with a nod.

"Miranda, while you're an XO, you'll be following Goldstein's lead on this mission," Shepard ordered. As competent as Miranda was, former Alliance Flight Lieutenant Brigitte "Hell razor" Goldstein was a decorated combat pilot with far more experience in providing air support.

"I was about to suggest the same Shepard," Miranda replied, absolutely unperturbed by the order. "Who is going to be my gunner?"

Shepard was about to suggest Zaeed when Goldstein intervened. "If I can suggest Commander, Hawthorne can be Operative Lawson's gunner. I can fly solo."

"You're sure about this Goldstein?" Victoria asked.

"Absolutely Commander," the pilot replied. "You'll need all the men you can get to be groundside. Burt and Samsonov can act as my door gunners."

"Good, carry on," Shepard said and turned to the rest of the crew. "Unless somebody has any other suggestions, you should start checking your gear. I want maximum load out. Heavy weapons, grenades, mines and explosives. Load additional crates with ammunition into the shuttle. Any questions?"

"How are we going to deal with the Collector's ships?" Gallardi asked.

"The Alliance High Command promised reinforcements, although I have no idea on their ETA,"

"This is it people," Shepard said to all assembled. "The Collectors have taken previous colonies without firing a single shot. This time however, we'll make them pay in blood for every step they take on the Horizon's surface."

"We shall ask for no quarter and we shall offer none!" Gallardi said with determination.

"Hoorah!" Jacob added.

Jack cracked her knuckles. "Let's see what those pussies are made of!"

"Hell yeah!" Zaeed followed her, cracking his neck.

Grunt bumped his fists loudly.

"Let's make it happen, people," Victoria said with and slammed the palm of her hand on the table. "Dismissed."

* * *

><p><em>Normandy's armory.<em>

Gallardi went to his locker and started taking out his armor. All around him various members of the ground team were preparing their equipment with grim determination. Which was understandable: the next mission would be unlike their previous deployments. It will not be a team of specialist against a bunch of mercenaries, no.

This one will be a full scale military operation.

August caught a blur of white and black and turned to see the eldar approach him.

"Captain, there is something I wish to discuss with you," Maeteris said.

"What is it?" Gallardi asked her.

Maeteris looked around before replying. "In private. It's important."

Gallardi nodded and started to follow the alien.

They entered the corridor that connected the armory and Mordin's lab. The Farseer waited for the door to close and then opened one the pouches on her belt. She took out some kind of rune. Maeteris closed her eyes and in a moment the rune started to glow. She placed the rune on the wall and August felt some kind of shift. As if the air became still and silent.

"We can talk now," the eldar said. "There is something I haven't mentioned about my vision. Among the Collectors there was one that… caught my attention. It looked like a normal one until it started to glow from inside, as if possessed by something."

"Possessed by a daemon?" Gallardi asked her carefully.

"I'm not certain, it was unlike any possession I have seen and I have seen plenty," Maeteris replied. "It certainly became more powerful."

"We need to warn the others," August told her. "They don't know what they are about to face."

"It was the reason I decided to omit this," the Farseer told him. "If we tell them, they'll become afraid. Afraid of the unknown. And what if I'm wrong and it's not a daemon? What if this is some kind of Collector trick? Let them face it on their own terms."

Gallardi pondered at her words. He didn't like to agree with the alien but she was right. Back in the time, his own comrades from the Guard became unreasonably scared at the mere mention of daemons. And they were at least a bit familiar with the concept. The humans here will most likely become paralyzed with fear.

"But what if it is a daemon?" August asked the eldar.

"Then it will be our task to deal with it," Maeteris told him.

Gallardi nodded. "Very well. But what about Jack? She is a latent psyker, maybe she should stay on the ship?"

"No, it will raise too many questions," the Farseer said. "I will personally oversee her. Besides, if it is indeed a daemon, it will be a useful experience for her."

"Let us hope it would not be her last experience," August agreed with a nod. "Whatever this entity is, it will not find us wanting."

He paused before continuing. "I was about to say that the Emperor protects, but…"

"Let him protect you and your kin," Maeteris replied without a trace of sarcasm. "Kaela Mensha Khaine shall guide my blade."

She turned to the wall, removed the rune and the air once again became alive. They returned to the Armory.

"Wow, you're fast bunch," Jack mentioned and smiled suggestively. "Decided to have a quickie before the big show?"

At first, Gallardi didn't get the meaning of the question. He looked at the Farseer and saw her roll her eyes in annoyance. Maeteris quickly turned away and walked out of the armory. It was then August figured out that Jack suggested that something explicit happened between him and the eldar during their brief conversation. He sighed and shook his head.

"Seriously Jack, do you honestly believe sex is the only thing that people do in private?" Gallardi asked her and returned to the process of preparing his equipment.

"Why the fuck not? It's its good way to relieve stress," Jack said with a shrug. "And the Princess is actually hot if you don't mind that the facts that she's a thousand year old witch."

"I don't need to 'relieve stress' before what I consider to be minor skirmish," Gallardi said and started to fill one of the bags with grenades. "And while you people consider relations between human and aliens as something normal, in the Imperium of Man it is called heresy most foul."

"Uh-huh," Jack said and picked up her shotgun. "You know, we have a saying – forbidden fruit is the sweetest."

"And we have a saying that heresy begets retribution," August replied, picked up his lasgun and loudly slammed a powerpack into its place. "And that retribution is best delivered through holy fire."

Gallardi let his weapon hang on a sling and picked up his helmet. "I'll appreciate that you don't bring up this subject anymore, Jack. There is nothing between me and the eldar. And there can't be anything. Ever."

Jack looked at him and grinned. "Then why do you sound so defensive about it."

Gallardi groaned. "Why do I even bother…?"

He placed the helmet on his head and walked out of the Armory.

* * *

><p><em>Several minutes later. Normandy's cargo hold.<em>

Victoria oversaw the last preparations before the deployment. The Kodiak was loaded with additional ammunition for small arms and onboard weaponry. People also carried crates with grenades and other explosives. Some of those were loaded onto the Hammerhead. Shepard wondered whether it was going to be enough. If Maeteris' worst predictions would prove to be accurate, the odds were going to be 10 to 1. It would require some careful planning to even those odds a little. The most effective solution would be to herd the Collectors on some open ground and then wipe them out with air support.

She heard the elevator's door open and turned around to see the last member of ground team enter the cargo hold. Maeteris walked with a purposeful gait towards her, dressed in her beautiful armor, her ornate helmet resting in the crook of her arm. Shepard couldn't help but admire the ancient warrior. The ornate wings on her back made the Farseer look like a crossbreed between a samurai warrior of the ancient Japan and a Polish winged hussar. Only the eldar's armor was even more decorated and seemed to fit the woman perfectly; she made almost no sound as she approached Victoria.

"Farseer," Victoria greeted the eldar.

"Commander," Maeteris returned the greeting. "Has there been any word from the colony?"

"We will approach the long range communication distance shortly," Shepard told her. "So far there was no sign of the Collector's vessels. It seems that we have arrived just in time. And we have you to thank for this."

"I'm merely fulfilling my promise, Commander," Maeteris replied evenly.

"There is something I want you to ask," Victoria told the eldar. "Could you please try to wear your helmet most of the time while we are on the planet's surface? People are usually wary of new aliens, and the colonists even more so. I don't want your presence to worry them. Let them think that you're either a human or an asari in elaborate armor."

"It was my intention all along. I will be in the shuttle, if you need me," Maeteris said and walked towards the Kodiak.

"Commander we're in range, I can try and hail the Horizon's colony," Joker announced over the PA.

"Good, patch through to the Kodiak," Victoria said and boarded the shuttle.

**Location: Shadow Sea Cluster, Iera System, Planet Horizon, GARDIAN system's control room.**

"Damn it," Ashley Williams cursed and slammed her fist into the control desk. "Alright, alight. Pull yourself together Williams. You can do it."

It was almost two days since the GARDIAN turrets were installed around Discovery's perimeter and connected to the control room. All that was needed now was to configure the targeting matrix. Command said that there was no need to be a tech specialist to be able to configure it, and even if Williams ran into some trouble, she could always ask the local tech to assist her. The problem was that so far the locals proved to be less than friendly. They always claimed to have some 'more important matters' to deal with then help her deal with her 'Alliance toys'.

Ashley sighed and opened the manual once again. She knew she'd have to go on the tech courses soon. She was a good soldier and excellent marksman but that was all. If she wanted to progress in spec ops, she would have to become more than just a perfect grunt. Ashley activated the terminal once again and restarted the calibration procedure anew.

"_Garrus could have done this easily_," Ashley thought to herself. "_Hell, Tali could've done this with her eyes closed._"

Only this time, there was no Tali or Garrus around to help her. Ashley missed the old crew. They were almost like a family, each with their strengths and weaknesses and with Shepard to hold them together. There was nothing they couldn't do.

Once again Ashley tried to shut out the confusing feelings about her former Commander. She had the utmost respect for Shepard and treasured her as a friend. To be fully honest, Ashley held the Commander as her ideal of a military woman and wanted nothing more than to be like her. When Shepard 'died' with the Normandy, Ashley mourned her passing almost as much as she mourned the death of her father.

Then came the strange rumors that Shepard wasn't dead. And that she was working for Cerberus. Cerberus! It made no sense. Ashley was there with Shepard on Chaska, Binthu, Nepheron and Altahe and saw Cerberus atrocities first hand. She remembered how determined Shepard was in hunting down the remnants of those terrorists once they ended their hunt for Saren. There was no way Victoria could work with those racists, she was the reason Ashley revised her attitude towards aliens. Even more so, most of the Normandy's crew knew Victoria and Liara were an item. How could someone work for Cerberus and at the same time have an asari as their significant other?

Then the rumors that Shepard was alive were confirmed. The video recording of Shepard rolling a volus on the Citadel was currently the most viewed video on YouTube 3.0. And it was totally something Victoria would do because when the Normandy's crew got drunk after their victory over Saren and the Sovereign, Shepard secretly confessed to Ashley that she always wanted to see if 'those round fellas could roll'.

What confused Ashley even more was that Shepard was reinstated both in the Alliance military and as a Spectre. Why would the Council and Alliance brass reinstate someone working for a terrorist organization? Determined to know the truth, Ashley approached Councilor Anderson directly and asked him just what the hell was going on. But Anderson wouldn't talk. He stonewalled Ashley by telling her that things were complicated and that she shouldn't get involved. Which meant that the rumors were right and Shepard indeed worked for Cerberus? But why? A hero like Victoria Shepard wouldn't betray the Alliance.

Or would she? Ashley had to agree that the Alliance did little to deserve Shepard's loyalty. And in a sense, Ashley felt that she betrayed Shepard too. When the brass started sweeping Victoria's warnings under the rug, instead of being the most active protester, Ashley Williams remained silent. She was offered a promotion and it placed her only one step away from a full commission. She didn't want to see Shepard's work destroyed but she also wanted to redeem her family's name. If Ashley started supporting Shepard's cause that the Alliance should prepare for the upcoming Reaper invasion, her career would have ended immediately. So she took the damn promotion and stayed silent, hoping that Alliance High Com and the Council had some kind of plan and that things will turn out well in the end.

And now Ashley was here on Horizon, seemingly trying to improve relations with the colonists by providing free of charge defense systems. Only it wasn't her real objective. Her priority mission was to watch out for Shepard's movements in order to determine her real agenda. Someone in intelligence was certain that the Commander might be visiting Horizon soon. The only thing that worried Ashley was whether she would be able to look Shepard straight in the eyes without being ashamed of her actions.

Williams was about to return to her calibrations when her com squeaked and the voice of Major Delgado, Chief of Horizon's Security Forces, came through.

"Chief, we need you at the communications center," the Major told Ashley.

"What's going on, Major?" Ashley asked as she stood up.

"I was hoping you can tell us," Delgado replied. "We are being hailed by someone who claims to be from the Systems Alliance, namely Staff Commander Shepard of the Normandy SR-2. Isn't that your former dead CO who isn't actually so dead?"

Ashley heart skipped a beat. "_Shepard's here? So the intel was right,_" she thought and started running towards the communication's center.

"I'm on my way," Ashley replied shortly.

_Discovery's main communications center._

"I repeat, this is Staff Commander Shepard of the Normandy calling anyone on the colony of Horizon, please respond," an all too familiar voice greeted Ashley as she entered the com center.

"I'm telling you sir, it's her!" Corporal Simmons said excitedly. "I wouldn't mistake her voice for anyone else in the Galaxy."

"_Of course you wouldn't_," Ashley said inwardly. Simmons had a bad case of hero worship of Commander Shepard. His whole house was plastered with her pictures, printed extracts of the news involving Victoria and the Normandy's crew. Ever since Ashley came on the Horizon, the man spent all his free time bugging her with questions about Shepard and her crew's exploits.

"Stow it, Simmons," Delgado told the young Corporal sternly. He turned his head to look at Ashley. "Do have anything to say, Chief Williams?"

"It's her voice all right, if that is what you're asking sir," Ashley replied evenly. "Although why she is here I have no idea. I received no word from my CO about this."

"The Alliance stopped monitoring the movements of their own forces?" Delgado asked incredulously.

"It's not that sir, there are some... Controversial rumors about the Commander's ties with a certain organization," Ashley replied.

"You mean Cerberus?" Simmons interrupted once again. "I think it's bullshit, someone is trying to frame her. She would never work with of those racists."

"I said: shut it Corporal!" The Major told the eager Corporal and turned back to Ashley. "Williams?"

"As I said, the rumors are somewhat..." Ashley began but was interrupted by Shepard's impatient voice.

"Hello, people! Can anyone please answer to me? I know you're reading this transmission. You're all asleep or something?" The Commander asked, clearly annoyed at the lack of response. "Williams, I know you're down there, Hackett told me. Pick up the damn phone!"

"Who is Hackett?" Delgado asked Ashley.

"Admiral Hackett, my current CO," Williams replied.

"I see," the Major said with a nod. "I think you should pick it up."

"Right," Ashley said and approached the terminal. She nodded to the com officer to patch her through.

"This is Operations Chief Ashley Williams. We read you loud and clear Commander."

"Finally! It's good to hear your voice Ashley. Listen, I really want to have a friendly chat but we don't have much time. We have solid intel that Horizon is about to be attacked by the alien race called the Collectors," Shepard told Ashley in a serious tone. "There are the ones who are responsible for recent human colonies disappearances. I need you and the local security to evacuate the city into the safe houses. Also, the local forces should prepare for combat but only those who really know how to fight. The Collectors use a mass paralyzing weapon and we only have countermeasures for the select few. Everyone else should hide in the safe houses. My team and I will be down in sixty minutes."

"Wait Commander! What do you mean, the Collectors?" Ashley asked Shepard. "And if it was Hackett who told you I was here then why didn't he warn me about..."

As if to answer her unasked question, the nearby com terminal beeped. The woman in charge of the terminal leaned closer and pressed a few buttons.

"Major, we have an incoming secure data packet from the Alliance Command for Chief Williams," the operator announced. "It's marked as 'urgent'."

Ashley and Delgado silently exchanged looks.

"I believe that will answer all your questions, Ashley," Shepard said through the terminal. "Now please, start the evacuation immediately or it's going to be just like Eden Prime, if not worse. Shepard out."

As soon as the conversation ended, Ashley rushed to check the recently arrived orders. Her blood ran cold as she finished reading.

"Williams, say something," Delgado demanded. "What's going on?"

"Commander Shepard is telling the truth, the Alliance brass confirmed it," Ashley said and turned to look Major and his men. "We should follow her advice and get everyone to safety."

"Damn it! What about the GARDIAN system?" The Major asked, slightly hopeful.

"It's still not calibrated," Ashley replied barely hiding her annoyance. "_It would have been if you people weren't so thick headed._"

"Merde!" Delgado cursed and turned to one of his Lieutenants. "Sound the general alarm! And somebody, get me the tech experts and send them to calibrate those guns ASAP!"

He then turned back to Ashley. "I hope your old CO is as good as they say, Williams..."

"She is, sir. Trust me," Ashley replied. "If anyone can pull this off, it's her."

_Roughly one hour later_...

The evacuation proceeded more or less orderly. Since Horizon was located in Terminus Systems, the colonists here knew that life was more dangerous than in the Alliance and when alarms started to sound, everyone took the matter seriously. Some still asked the questions, determined to know what was going on but most of the colonists simply proceeded to the safety of the vaults.

Both Delgado and Williams stood on the city's main plaza, already fully armed and armored.

"I suppose I owe you an apology, Chief," the Major said as he looked at the moving crowd of people. "I should have listened to you and helped you complete the GARDIAN's installation. But instead our techs were repairing the farming equipment."

"Too late to worry about that sir," Ashley replied evenly. "Let's just hope that we still have enough time."

Ashley looked to the skies and spotted small silhouettes of two rapidly approaching craft.

"There they are," she told Delgado who responded with a nod.

As the two vehicles started to approach, Ashley was able to make out some details. The two crafts were a Kodiak shuttle and M-44 Hammerhead. Ashley's heart sank as she saw that the both vehicles had white, black and yellow coloring scheme - traditional Cerberus colors. Until the last moment Williams was clinging to hope that the whole mess with Cerberus was just some weird misunderstanding and that her friend was not a traitor. But it seemed that this was not the case.

Both crafts landed and the Kodiak's side doors opened. Ashley expected to see Shepard walk out at the head of a group of Cerberus commandoes. But a mottled crew that disembarked from the shuttle was anything but. True, one of them was wearing Cerberus armor, as were the door gunners but everyone else...

First one was of course none other than Victoria Shepard in her traditional black and gold armor. She was quickly followed by a towering man in bulky gunmetal grey armor of the type Ashley has never seen before. He had a silver winged skull on his helmet and a silver double headed eagle on his chest plate. Ashley thought he was some kind of merc but his stance spoke of military training and discipline, much like Shepard's did.

The next one was a turian and it took several seconds for Ashley to recognize Garrus. "_Why would Garrus work with Cerberus? He is a turian!_" Ashley asked herself inwardly. Then she noticed that Garrus was not the only alien in the group. There was also a salarian and a big krogan that looked a bit... Young was probably the right word. "_Why would aliens work with a bunch of xenophobic terrorists?"_

Then there was a Cerberus commando Ashley noticed earlier. He was followed by a trio of mercenaries. First one was a woman dressed in the black cat suit and had a hood covering her head. Next to her was scarred old merc in blood-red armor. The last one was bald young woman in light grey armor that had various things painted on its surface. The most notable thing was a brazen inscription 'I can read your fucking mind, bitch!' on the woman's chest.

And while the whole group was certainly strange, their last member was downright bizarre. She looked like someone who had just stepped out of one of those strange cartoons Ashley's sister Abby was so fond of when she was younger. She wore a strange set of black and white armor that was covered with strange runes and several red gems. The armor also had a set of decorative wings that looked impractical for Ashley but the armor's owner looked completely at ease with them. At first Williams thought that the strange woman was unarmed until she spotted the sword hanging at the woman's hip. A sword. In the age of starships and mass accelerator guns. If Ashley was in better mood she would have probably started to laugh.

Some of Shepard's team members started to unload crates from both Kodiak and Hammerhead while the Victoria herself along with Garrus, the salarian and the tall man approached Ashley and Delgado.

"It's been a long time Ash! How have you been?" Shepard asked cheerfully as if they'd seen each other only a couple of weeks ago. Vitoria motioned towards the Major and asked. "Can you introduce us?"

While Ashley wanted to ask many Shepard many questions, she quickly got a hold of herself and introduced Delgado. "Major Miguel Delgado, Chief of Horizon's Security Forces. Staff Commander Victoria Shepard of the Systems Alliance and a Council Spectre."

Delgado offered his hand. "It is an honor to meet you, Commander. I've heard a lot about you."

Shepard shook his hand. "The honor is mine, Major. I wish we could have met under better circumstances," Victoria introduced her companions in turn. Ashley already knew Garrus, the salarian and the other human turned out to be Professor Mordin Solus and Captain August Gallardi respectively.

"If you don't mind me asking Major, when did you get GARDIAN lasers?" Shepard asked Delgado.

"Wait, you don't know?" Delgado asked in return.

"The Commander wasn't told about my mission," Ashley intervened. "Shepard, the GARDIAN system was a gift from the Alliance, they were installed only a couple of days ago."

"I see," Victoria nodded.

"Your Alliance sure loves its secrets, Chief Williams," the Major said with a sigh. "Although it is not like there is much use of them now since the guns are still..."

"Inoperable?" Captain Gallardi interrupted him.

Delgado stared at him. "Yes. How did you know?"

As a way of response Shepard and her three team members turned around and looked at the woman in strange armor, who was wandering around and looking at different buildings.

"Call it a gut feeling," Shepard said as she turned back to Ashley and Delgado. "What needs to be done to make the guns operational?"

"The targeting matrix still needs to be calibrated," Ashley replied. "We have tech specialists working on it. I hope they will finish it before the attack begins."

"I don't think we are going to be that lucky," Shepard said ominously. "How is the evacuation going?"

"Most of the colonists are already in the vaults," Major replied. "As per your advice we're gathered only most experienced soldiers. All good men, most of them are former Alliance. 109 men including me."

"Good, Professor Solus here will at least half of them with special armor upgrades. Squad leaders, medics and weapon specialists should take priority," Shepard told them.

"What about the others?" Ashley asked her.

"The armor upgrades are actually our contingency plan, the main countermeasure will be provided by one of my crew," Victoria replied and once again looked at the strange woman. "It's a bit unorthodox but she assures me that it will work."

"Very well Commander, I believe I've no choice but trust you on this one," Delgado said. "I take it you have a plan on how to deploy our forces best?"

"The Collectors will expect their paralyzing swarm to do its job and therefore they will not expect any resistance," Shepard replied. "Therefore they will advance on the colony from singular direction. Our plan is to organize as defensive line and stop the Collectors before they reach the safe houses."

"How do you know from which direction the enemy is going to attack?" The Major asked Victoria. "Their ships can land anywhere."

"We are about to find out," Shepard said and once again turned to look at the woman in strange armor.

"Maeteris, did you figure out the enemy's approach vector?" Victoria asked loudly.

The one called Maeteris turned to regard them and then silently approached one city's higher building. What she did next made Ashley stare with her jaw hanging.

The woman jumped almost twelve meters up in the air and landed gracefully on the building's roof.

"Show off," Williams heard Gallardi mutter. He sounded almost unimpressed.

"Nice trick," Garrus added.

"How... How did she do that?" Delgado asked, clearly stunned by what he just saw.

"I'm not sure," Shepard replied. "Gallardi, is it natural?"

"No, it's sorcery," the Captain replied, his tone completely serious. "You saw that shimmering trail she left? She used her psychic powers to propel herself up."

"What do you mean 'sorcery'?" Ashley asked him. "Is she some new type of biotic?"

"No Ash, not exactly. Look people, I'll try to explain once this is all over but now we have more pressing matters to deal with," Victoria replied and looked up at Maeteris. "Well?"

Maeteris pointed at something in the distance. "There. Their ship is going to land over there, not so far from the city's edge," the woman said out loud, her voice slightly distorted by her helmet's external dynamics. "They will advance on the main avenue towards the city's core. Some of them will take side passages but the bulk of their forces will swarm through here."

"How does she know that?" The Major asked incredulously.

"I don't know how, but she knows," Victoria assured him. "Trust me Major, if she says they will come through here, then we can safely bet our every last credit on it."

The group turned to regard the city's main avenue.

"A well placed strafing run would greatly thin the enemy's ranks," Gallardi noted.

"We call also place proximity mines on the side streets," Garrus added.

"Good idea, Vakarian. It will either herd them onto the main street and directly at our guns or greatly reduce their numbers if they try to push through the mines," the Captain nodded and turned to address Victoria. "With your permission, Shepard."

"Do it," Victoria replied. "Major, they will need your people's help to place the mines."

Delgado used his com to call the names of some of his men and ordered them to assemble near Shepard's teams' idling vehicles. After that, both Garrus and Gallardi nodded their thanks to the Major and hurried away.

"Mordin, start distributing the armor upgrades," Shepard told the salarian. "Grunt and Zaeed will help you carry your equipment."

"Will do, Shepard," Mordin replied and quickly walked away towards the shuttle.

"Now, all we have to do, Major is to organize the defense line," Victoria addressed Delgado.

"I'll gather my officers," Delgado replied.

"Commander... Shepard I would like to have a few words with you. In private," Ashley told Victoria.

Delgado nodded and walked away. As soon as he was out of the earshot Ashley turned to look at Shepard.

"Shepard, I need some answers..." Williams began but was interrupted by Victoria's stopping halting hand.

"Ashley, if this is about Cerberus then it will have to wait," Shepard said sternly. "We have far more pressing matters now and you know that. Once this is over we will talk about..."

Victoria stopped and activated her com-link. "Yes, go ahead Joker."

"_Wait, Joker is here too?_" Ashley thought to herself. She wondered just how many people from the old crew were now with Shepard working for Cerberus.

"Copy that Joker. How many of them are there?" Shepard continued to converse with her pilot. "I see. Thanks for the heads up. Stay silent and try to reach the other side of the planet. Do not engage the Collectors; the Normandy is simply not ready for this kind of fight. Shepard out."

"What's going on Shepard?" Ashley asked.

"They are here," Shepard started to rush towards Delgado. "Major, one Collector ship has just exited the Mass Relay! They are on their way, so we're on tight schedule now."

Delgado cursed and turned to shout orders to some of his men. Shepard started running towards him, and then turned to address Ashley."

_"_You're coming Williams?" Victoria asked her.

"Yes, yes Commander. Lead the way," Ashley replied and followed Shepard. Victoria was right: Cerberus can wait. The survival of the colonists was a priority.

* * *

><p>"Hey Gallardi, I've been meaning to tell you something recently," Garrus told August as they both continued to plant the proximity charges. "Something you'd probably find pretty ironic".<p>

Gallardi activated another mine and carefully stepped away. "What is it?"

"Do you know what the highest rank in the Turian Hierarchy is?" Garrus asked him.

"No, I haven't studied your species that much," August replied honestly.

"It's Primarch, believe it or not," Garrus replied with a smirk. "There are several Primarchs; each of them rules a different colonization cluster."

Gallardi stifled a laugh. "Yes that is ironic," he said and sighed. "A gun named Carnifex, alien Primarchs. What next? A battle tank named Abaddon?"

"You've mentioned him. That's the guy who led the 13th Black Crusade?" Garrus asked him as he retrieved more mines from a crate carried by a couple of local soldiers.

"That's the guy who led all 13 Black Crusades," August corrected.

"Right I keep forgetting that the Eye of Terror messes with the time," Garrus said with a nod.

Gallardi moved to get more mines and noticed that the locals were giving him and Garrus odd looks. He shook his head and returned to the process of planting the mines.

"The locals probably think that we're nuts," August noted to Garrus.

Garrus looked over his shoulder and then looked back at Gallardi. "Yeah, you're right. We probably shouldn't talk about things from your place while they're around. They seem to be a bit jumpy as it is."

"That would be for the best," Gallardi agreed.

Suddenly August's com crackled and Shepard's voice came through. "Gallardi, this is Shepard do you copy?"

"Go ahead, Commander," August replied.

"The Collectors have entered the system and are on their way to the planet. You better wrap your business up quickly and get back to the defensive positions, over."

"Copy that, Shepard we'll back in thirty minutes," Gallardi replied as he received a nod of agreement from Garrus. "Over and out."

August turned to the local troops. "The enemy is on its way. Let's double time it people!"

_Thirty minutes later. Defense line's main barricade._

Victoria saw Gallardi, Garrus and the rest of the sappers return to the plaza. The defense was almost ready; Mordin already finished distributing the countermeasures. Both the Kodiak and Hammerhead had retreated to the far side of the city where they would wait until the need for air support arose. All they had to do now was wait for the Collectors to show up.

Ashley was constantly following Shepard around. Victoria wanted to think that it was just like old times but she knew it was not the case. Shepard saw wariness in her former Gunnery Chief. She knew that Ashley was fiercely loyal to the Alliance and the knowledge that Shepard had Cerberus support irked her very much. Still, Victoria knew that Williams was also an exemplary soldier and Shepard was glad to have Ashley at her side.

"Who is this Captain Gallardi?" Ashley asked as she studied the approaching Imperial officer. "He is not from Alliance, that I can say for certain. I've never seen the markings he has. Is he from some kind of Cerberus black ops team?"

"No Ash, he is not with Cerberus. He is from... Somewhere else," Shepard replied. "I picked him up along with Maeteris, and as I already said - it's complicated. I'll try to explain once this is all over."

By now both Vakarian and Gallardi approached them. Garrus was first to speak.

"Shepard we've deployed all the mines we had. The Collectors are in for some nasty surprises."

"Are the defenses prepared?" Gallardi asked Victoria.

"As much as they can be on such short time," Shepard replied. "Now, I want you two to get into that high building over there. Zaeed is already inside. I want you to provide sniper support from that point."

"Will do Shepard," Garrus replied and prepared his sniper rifle.

"Where will you be?" Gallardi asked Shepard.

"Down here, in the thick of it," Victoria replied.

"I see," Gallardi said. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then reached down his thigh and removed a holster with his plasma pistol. "Here, you will make better use of it."

Victoria smiled as she received the potent weapon. "For me? Aww, but you shouldn't have!" Shepard to the pistol out of its holster and examined it. "How does it work?"

"The big switch here activates the power generator. Then you just aim, squeeze the trigger and wait for almost three seconds for the gun to charge and fire," Gallardi explained. "Watch the heat indicator before making the next shot. Fire only when the gauge is in the green zone. You can fire when it is in the yellow zone but there is a great risk of the gun overheating and exploding. Therefore you can fire only when you have absolutely no choice. As for the red zone... Well it's red for a reason. Also, you have only two shots so..."

"Make each one count, I know," Shepard finished for him. "Thank you Captain."

Gallardi simply nodded. "This is it then. Shepard, Chief Williams. Good luck, the Emperor protects."

"You too Gallardi," Victoria replied.

Gallardi turned around and strode towards his designated position.

"What does he mean 'the Emperor protects'? What Emperor?" Ashley asked her confusion evident.

"It's a long story, but in our language he meant 'God speed' or something very close to it," Shepard replied. "Come on Ashley; let's get back to our positions."

_Roughly two hours later..._

"Commander, the engineers say that the GARDIAN system is ready. Should we put it online?" Delgado asked Victoria over the com.

"Not now. When the ship arrives, the long range will make the lasers less effective and they wouldn't do significant damage to the ship," Shepard replied. "The Collectors will retreat and then we risk being bombarded by them. Let them get closer where the GARDIAN can fire for maximum effect. If we're lucky it will destroy the ship and if we're not the lasers will damage the ship so badly the Collectors will have no choice but to retreat."

"I understand, Commander, we'll wait for your signal," the Major replied. "Is your...unorthodox countermeasure already deployed?"

"I'm going to check it now. Wait one," Shepard replied and switched to her team's channel. "Maeteris this is Shepard. Is everything ready?"

There was no response at first.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed from nearby. "Shit, you people felt that?"

"Felt what?" Ashley asked her.

"I don't know, like something was just wrapped around me," Jack replied as she scratched the skin of her face.

"I didn't feel anything," Ashley replied.

"Farseer?" Shepard once again tried to reach Maeteris.

"It is done, the shroud is cast," Maeteris replied calmly. "Now we wait. Our enemies will be here soon."

"Got it. Thank you," Victoria said and switched back to Delgado. "Major the countermeasures are in place. Get your men ready, the show is about to start."

"Roger that. Delgado out."

Victoria activated her tech armor and looked into the sky. "All right bastards, come and get us."

* * *

><p>Gallardi finished his prayers and was scanning the skies for any sign of the enemy. He was in the building with several local troops. Garrus and Massani were on the highest floor along with the local snipers.<p>

"What kind of weapon is that, Captain," Ritter, the local Lieutenant, asked Gallardi. "I've never seen one before."

"It's a laser weapon Lieutenant," Gallardi replied.

"Really, a real laser weapon?" Ritter asked in awe. "Does the Alliance have a lot of those?"

"Not at the moment, but if their scientists are smart enough, the Systems Alliance will have them soon enough," Gallardi told him.

"Maybe leaving Alliance wasn't such a good idea after all," one of the Privates, Washington, remarked. "Now I won't get cool flashy guns."

There were several chuckles from different soldiers. Gallardi however was not laughing. He spotted clouds appearing out of the clear skies. It only meant one thing.

"I see the ship entering the atmosphere," August announced over the com.

"We see it too, Gallardi," came the Shepard's response. "Everyone, get ready."

August watched as the clouds started to part, revealing the shape of the vessel.

"That is one ugly ship," one of the soldiers remarked quietly.

Gallardi agreed. The ship was ugly and misshapen. It reminded him of ork roks or an extremely small space hulk. He noticed as the ship stated to disgorge some kind of cloud. August used his weapon's scope to look closer and saw that it was not a cloud but a swarm of tiny creatures.

"I can see the swarms," Gallardi heard Garrus say over the com.

August saw as soldiers all around him trained their weapons at the incoming swarm.

"Stay calm and don't try to shoot it. It will do no good, there are millions of those things," Gallardi told the soldiers.

"But what if your countermeasures wouldn't work?" Ritter asked.

"They will work, Lieutenant. Have faith," Gallardi told him sternly.

"Right," Ritter said and addressed his people. "Hold fire, men. Wait for real targets to appear."

The swarms started to get closer. Gallardi saw as they started to enter empty buildings, looking for the inhabitants that were already in the safe houses. They quickly closed the distance to the defense lines and in a moment the swarm was all around them. For a moment August wondered whether both the eldar spell and Mordin's upgrades failed when he saw that small creatures simply flew past him and the other soldiers as if they were not there. In a couple of moments the swarms passed their defenses and continued to search further. Gallardi heard several sighs of relief from the soldiers around him.

"Shit that was close," Washington muttered.

Gallardi looked at the Collector's ship and saw that it was taking a vertical position and land not far from the city. Exactly where the elder had predicted them to be.

"Get ready, they'll start deploying troops now," Gallardi ordered.

As the ship finally stopped, August saw through his scope as small dots started to fall from the ship. Soon they formed a crowd that started to move towards the city. Some of them were flying over short distances before continuing on foot.

As they got closer Gallardi started to make out details of the enemy.

"Jesus, what are those things," one of the female soldiers asked.

"The insectoid ones, those that can fly, are the Collectors," Gallardi told them. "As for those abominations..."

"They are husks," Washington said. "I fought against those two years ago on the Citadel. Don't worry people; they can be killed just like everything else. Shooting them in the head is the best tactic," He was silent for a moment. "Strange..."

"What is it?" Ritter asked him.

"I see only husks but no geth," Washington replied. "I thought only geth were capable of making husks. Guess I was wrong."

Gallardi saw that the enemy had finally reached the city. Most of the husks continued running on the main street while the Collectors were flying above them from building to building.

"Damn it, so much for using mines," August muttered. "Lieutenant, it is best that we concentrate on those Collectors. We have the advantage of height."

"Yes, the people on the ground should deal with the others," Ritter nodded. "You heard him people, target the bugs. Get ready to fire on my signal."

* * *

><p>"Shepard, are you seeing this? Husks," Garrus asked Victoria over the com. "But I don't see any geth among them."<p>

"The Cerberus scientists say the technology to make husk is not a geth technology, but actually a Reaper tech," Jacob said from his position. "Guess the Illusive Man was right and the Collectors are working with the Reapers."

"Yes it seems that way," Shepard said and activated her com to contact Delgado. "Major the enemy is committed. Activate the GARDIAN system."

"With pleasure, Commander," Delgado replied.

Shepard saw the low hum of several turrets turning to target the Collector ship. Then there was a moment of silence before all turrets opened up on the alien ship. Flashes from direct hits started to appear on the ship's hull.

The Collector troops and husk were already in range and Shepard finally sent the general order everyone was waiting for.

"All units, open fire!"

As one almost a hundred guns opened up on the enemy. Several Collectors were shot down from the sky by sniper fire. Shepard, along with Jack and Jacob used their biotics on the tightly gathered groups of husks. The air was filled with bursts of rifle fire and long streams of rounds from several stationary weapons that were hastily installed along the barricades. The Collectors of course returned fire, sending some of the defenders into cover, but snipers quickly picked them off.

Some of the Collectors were deploying some kind of personal shield generators that protected from the incoming fire. Some of them quickly lost their advantage as Victoria saw the Gallardi's trademark yellow laser bolts easily penetrate those shields and hit the Collectors behind them. Once again Shepard marveled as one unconventional weapon turned out to be such a great tactical asset.

"Shepard if you're thinking about bringing in the air support now is the good time," Garrus announced over the com channel. "The husks are still tightly packed on that street we need to hit them before they start spreading out."

"Copy that, Garrus," Victoria replied and switched to the channel reserved for Goldstein and Miranda. "This is Shepard, requesting combat support!"

"Razor 1 here, go ahead," Goldstein replied eagerly.

"I need a strafing run. Target the broad avenue one hundred meters northeast of my position. How copy? Over."

"Solid copy, Commander. Razor 1 and 2 are on our way. ETA three minutes."

Shepard switched to the general channel. "All units the air strike is on its way. Keep the enemy suppressed!"

* * *

><p>Gallardi heard Shepard's order and turned to nearby soldiers.<p>

"You heard her men! Suppress the bulk of the enemy forces!" August ordered.

The soldiers started sending bursts of fire on the largest concentration of husks. Meanwhile Gallardi looked at the Collector's vessel that was still hammered by the defense guns. The ship had started to take damage as was seen by the couple of pillars of smoke rising from its hull.

"Razor 1 here, we are going in hot. ETA thirty seconds" Goldstein announced over the general channel.

"Go get them girl!" Washington shouted enthusiastically. "Smoke those sons of bitches!"

Gallardi grinned as he continued to fire on the Collectors.

"Ten seconds," Goldstein announced.

"Blessed is His wrath that falls from the heaven," August quietly recited the benediction for air strikes and artillery barrages.

He saw the Kodiak fly over their position, chattering with both its autocannons and machineguns. Both board gunners were also firing from shuttles open doors. Some of the Collectors tried to return fire but the shuttle barriers protected both the gunners and the craft.

The Kodiak finished its strafing run, leaving a trail of hundreds of broken bodies. The surviving ones continued to surge mindlessly towards the city defenders, only to be hit by a homing missile. Gallardi then saw a Hammerhead charge forward sending missiles on the larger clusters of the remaining husks. The hovercraft was flying lowerthan the Kodiak, but it was still too high for the husks to reach it and too fast to be properly targeted by the Collectors.

Once the Hammerhead completed its assault, it activated it's thrusters and veered away from the battlefield. August saw several Collectors use their wings to jump into the air in order to pursue the hover tank. Gallardi quickly switched to the air support channel to warn Miranda.

"Razor 2, be advised. Several flying Collectors are pursuing..." August wasn't able to finish his warning as he saw a lightning bolt hit one of the pursuing Collectors. The charge then jumped to another Collector and then to another one. In less than a few seconds dozens of smoking Collector corpses fell to the ground.

"Never mind that, Razor 2. You're clear," Gallardi said and returned to his duty of killing the enemy.

* * *

><p>"Lightning!" Ashley shouted.<p>

"I know!" Shepard said as she sent another warp blast into one of the new types of husks. As impressed as she was by Maeteris' power, Victoria was not going to stand by gawking like Ashley was.

"I don't think you've heard me correctly, Shepard," Ashley persisted. "This 'Maeteris' just shot lightning bolts. Out of her hands! No biotic can do that!"

"Cool isn't it?" Jack asked with a grin. "Hey Shepard, you think she's gonna teach me that one? I mean, shooting lightning! What could be more badass?"

Maeteris probably heard Jack's question because what happened next impressed even Victoria.

Shepard heard some kind of racket behind her. She looked around for the source of it. She and part of her team were using some kind of tool shop as their strongpoint. Various tools and farming equipment were lying around. But the source of the racket was a stack of blades for a circular saw. They were hanging on the wall and trembling as if some invisible force was trying to make them move. With a loud snap the stack's restraints broke and the blades floated out of the window. Everyone present leaned out of their cover to see where the blades were going. The blades floated towards Maeteris, who still stood on the roof of the building. Strange runes hovered around her in an intricate dance. The circular blades stopped around the Farseer.

The eldar made a rotary motion with her hand and each blade started to spin with extreme speed. Then Maeteris made a dismissing gesture and the blades surged towards the Collectors, too fast for them to react but too slow to trigger their barriers. Some had blades embedded in their faces or chests. Others were hit in the joints and lost either limb or a joint.

"Wow," was all Victoria managed to say.

"Wicked!" Jack said with an even bigger grin. "Forget the lightning. _That _is what I've gotta learn."

* * *

><p>"Medic!" Gallardi shouted as he dragged one of the wounded soldiers into cover. The man was hit by some kind of beam weapon one of the Collectors wielded. While the beam resembled that of Gallardi's own lasgun, it was not a laser weapon. Gallardi saw the soldier getting hit and noticed that the beam triggered the man's barriers. Although the beam burned through them quickly, they still saved his life.<p>

"Here, I've got him!" The female medic, Rousseau, shouted as she grabbed the wounded man and started administering first aid. She removed the man's chest plate and used her medi-gel dispenser to coat the nasty gash that was left by the cursed xenos' weapon.

Once again, Gallardi marveled at the medi-gel's almost miraculous healing capabilities. As he returned to the firing line, August wondered how different many of the battles in the Imperium would have ended if the Imperial Guard had medi-gel. Thousands, millions of guardsmen would have survived to fight another day. The outcomes of entire campaigns would have been completely different.

Gallardi scanned the view in front of him try to identify a Collector with a beam weapon. He noticed one whose gun looked different from the others. The said Collector was currently flying in the air. Gallardi was about to take a shot when a sudden change in the Collector's behavior stopped August from firing. The alien started to glow from the inside and it body was covered with glowing cracks as if it was going to burst at the seams. The Collector started to float towards Gallardi and August steeled himself for a possible encounter with a daemon host.

The Collector reached Gallardi's position and then it boomed in the low voice.

"HUMAN! YOU WILL FAIL! YOUR ADVANCED WEAPONS WILL NOT STOP THE..."

The alien failed to finish his tirade because Gallardi placed four high powered shots directly into its huge head. The glow inside the Collector died out and its body dissolved into ash.

"Did I hear it right?" Ritter asked Gallardi. "That Collector just tried to talk to us? What was it saying?"

"Something about the Captain's weapon and how it would not stop him," Washington replied and grinned. "It stopped him just fine if you ask me."

Gallardi sighed with relief. "_Certainly not a daemon,_" he thought and activated his com. "Farseer, this is Gallardi. Do you copy?"

"I hear you," came the eldar's response.

"I've just encountered the Collector you've warned me about and I've defeated it quite easily," August told her. "Whatever it is, it is not a Warp entity. Or even if it is, it is the most pathetic one you can find."

"I see. But if it's not a daemon then how does it..." Maeteris sounded confused. "Never mind, I see another one."

* * *

><p>Maeteris saw the glowing Collector approach her. Indeed, it was not a daemon. The Farseer felt no trace of warp energies from the creature. Still there was some kind of presence. Something ancient and malign.<p>

Just like in her vision, the Collector floated towards her and started to speak in the same low voice.

"ELDAR. YOUR PRESENCE HERE IS AN ANOMALY. BUT IT CHANGES NOTHING. JUST LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS, YOU WILL NOT STOP THIS CYCLE. THE RACES OF THIS CYCLE WILL ASCEND, BUT YOU WILL BE DESTROYED."

"What are you?" Maeteris shouted. "And what do you know of my kin?"

"YOU'RE INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING. MUCH LIKE YOUR RACE WAS INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE GREATNESS OF OUR PLANS. THAT IS WHY THEY WERE DESTROYED AND I PRESIDED OVER THEIR DEMISE. I AM HARBRINGER."

Judging by the way this creature spoke, Maeteris knew she would not get a straight answer. Therefore she focused her mind and then plunged it directly inside the Collector in front of her.

The Collector was nothing but a mindless drone controlled remotely by something far away. Maeteris followed the control signal until she reached another Collector. This one was different, but it was also nothing more than a puppet controlled by something that was even further away, until she finally stood before the entity that controlled the Collector.

It was not a living entity. More like an intelligence. An artificial intelligence, ancient, emotionless, cold and calculating. "_A Reaper_," Maeteris thought.

Maeteris started to sort through the Harbinger's memories, although it was unlike sorting through personal experiences of a living being. With a reaper it was like looking through the record of its deeds. There was no personal attachment, the memories were simply recorded and stored just for the sake of recording. It was like looking for a scroll in a library.

As she went further and further back in time she finally saw a record that was simply labeled 'Eldar'. Maeteris hesitated for a moment before opening and then decided that she needed to know what exactly happened to her kin.

She started the recording but soon wished that she didn't.

_The cycle was almost at an end. Once again the Ascended came to harvest the advanced species, just like they countless times before. It was inevitable and unchanging. The dominating race, along with some other smaller races, resisted the Ascendance. Just like they always did. Their resistance proved futile, just like it was countless times before._

_Their genetic material would be harvested and they will ascend, just like it was intended from the beginning so that they may help ascend the races of the next cycle._

_The last thing that needed to be done was to scour the galaxy and catalogue the younger races and make sure they develop along the lines suitable for the Ascended._

_Scouts were sent into every system that could sustain life. Most of the younger races were in the acceptable state of development. When their time came they would ascend just like countless others before them._

_It was then a troubling signal came from one of the systems. A flourishing civilization of bipeds that only recently reached its industrial age inhabited a world of verdant forests and emerald seas. They called themselves the 'Eldar'. Their state of development was still acceptable but their technology... Was unlike any other witnessed by the Ascended before. It was calculated that given enough time it would easily eclipse that which was acceptable for the Ascended. It could even eclipse the technology of the Ascended themselves._

_Therefore the Overseer issued a correction to the current cycle. The eldar were to be ascended immediately, so that they would not foil the next cycle. A hundred Ascended were deemed enough to pacify the non-spacefaring race. The force was sent out immediately to the system._

_There was no response from them ever since._

_A much larger force was sent to investigate after some time. What the Ascended found was... Unexpected._

_Their previous force was wiped out. The planet still bore the scars of heavy fighting but the eldar were victorious. They even advanced their technological level further, and now they had a token space force guarding their planet. When the Ascended fleet engaged those ships, they found them to be extremely advanced compared to the Ascended. The nature of the Ascended made them some of the most agile spacecraft in the Galaxy but they were ponderous and cumbersome compared to the sleek Eldar ships. One on one the Ascended were outmatched. Not only on a technological level but in tactics also. The eldar crews seem to know every movement of the Ascended, their every weakness. It was... Statistically improbable._

_But despite the eldar ships' defiant resistance, they eventually succumbed to the Ascended superior numbers. Then the Ascended attacked the world itself for the second time and found that the eldar were ready for them. Powerful surface to space defenses shot down smaller Ascended ships with single strikes. The eldar also used strange powers that were never encountered by the Ascended before. Some of the eldar individuals possessed tremendous psychic powers that made them as powerful as the Ascendant._

_It was deemed that even the second force would not be enough to pacify the eldar. The Overseer sent out the signal for all of the Ascended to attack the eldar homeworld. They arrived and the massive armada blocked out the stars above the eldar's heads._

_Yet still the eldar persisted. The Ascended tried to explain their intentions to the eldar. They tried to illuminate some of the eldar, although it turned out to be a very difficult process. Even the average eldar had a very strong mind. However, when the Ascendant succeeded in converting some of the eldar, it proved to be useless in the end. The eldar quickly recognized the illuminated ones and killed them before they could compromise the eldar's defenses._

_It was then calculated by the Overseer that the possible gain from the eldar's ascendance would be easily outweighed by the losses the Ascendant would sustain in the process. Therefore, the Overseer ordered the complete destruction of the eldar race along with their planet. Thousands of the Ascended fired upon the planet's surface trying to destroy the ecosystem and render the planed uninhabitable._

_It seemed that the eldar understood the Ascended intentions and it was then that they delivered their final strike of defiance. The last remaining psychic masters of the eldar performed a ritual that ripped the essences of all the remaining eldar from their bodies and turned them into a massive psychic blast. Hundreds of the Ascended that were caught in the blast were destroyed. Those that managed to escape the blast heard a loud psychic cry of the eldar. Their last defiant statement to the universe._

_**We are beaten but unbowed.**_

_The Ascended then decided to gather the remaining eldar genetic material from the dying planet so they could salvage at least something. It was then the last 'gift' from the eldar was given._

_Whether intentional or not, the psychic blast somehow forced the local star to go nova prematurely. The star started to expand, far more rapidly than it normally should. The Ascended had to hastily retreat from the system before they got caught by the dying star. The star consumed both the eldar homeworld and the empty husks of the fallen Ascended._

_Then it turned into a neutron star, forever wiping out the traces of the eldar's defiant last stand and the Ascendeds' most crushing setback._

Maeteris mind surged back into her body. She cried out at the painful memory of seeing her race destroyed. Even in the eldar's intricate language there was no word to describe the storm of feelings in her soul. Anger, hate, pain and sorrow equally filled her mind as the accursed recording flashed before her eyes again and again.

The Farseer saw the possessed Collector before her preparing to unleash his biotic attack. Filled with fury, Maeteris struck her hands forward and then made a rending movement in the air. The Collector was ripped into two uneven parts that fell to the ground where they dissolved into ash.

It was hard to breathe. Despite her promise to Shepard, Maeteris ripped off her helmet and took a long shuddering breath. She needed to vent herself. The wrath and sorrow she felt now had to go away unless they ripped her soul to shreds. She looked down at the battlefield and saw the remaining enemy forces. Forces that served the Reapers or the Ascended or whatever those foul things called themselves. They had to die, simple as that.

Normally the Wail of the Banshee required a special helmet with speakers that was part of the Howling Banshees Aspect armor. Maeteris had no need for such thing; her psychic powers could augment her voice far better than any speaker. Therefore she channeled all her emotions; all that hate, anger, pain and sorrow into a single breath.

And then she screamed.

The sheer power of her wail shattered the glass in the whole district. The pure kinetic force of the shout broke the closest creatures in half and sent others on the ground.

Maeteris jumped down from the building's roof. When she landed she unsheathed her sword and then she simply charged towards the enemy, completely uncaring of her own safety.

* * *

><p>Shepard head was still ringing from a terrible cry Maeteris had unleashed. When the eldar screamed all of Victoria's team members along with the allied soldiers fell on the ground, clutching their ears.<p>

"What the hell happened?" Ashley asked hoarsely.

"I don't know," Shepard replied. "Is everyone alright?"

There were several groans from around her. She saw Kasumi, Jacob and Mordin struggle to their feet. Grunt was leaning on the wall and shaking his head furiously.

Victoria turned around looking for Jack and saw the young biotic sitting on her backside. She was hugging her legs tightly as she rocked back and forth.

"Jack!" Shepard said as she approached the woman. "Jack, what's wrong?"

Jack looked up at her. There were tears in her eyes. "Something bad happened, Shepard. Something really, really, really bad."

Shepard looked out of the window, searching for Maeteris but saw that the eldar was no longer on the roof. Instead, the Farseer was on the plaza, helmetless and she was charging towards the crowd of husks with her shimmering sword in her hands.

"Maeteris wait!" Shepard shouted weakly. It was of course too late to stop the eldar.

When the Farseer reached the husks and the Collectors, she hit them with the force of a freight train. Bodied and limbs flew into the air. Maeteris fought like a woman possessed, even though her fighting style was more like a dance. The most deadly dance Victoria ever saw. Each strike of the eldar's sword killed one or two and sometimes even three opponents. Her sword easily passed through both husks and Collectors as if it met absolutely no resistance. Once in a while, Maeteris would unleash some kind of psychic blast that would send several broken enemy's bodies into the air. The Farseer was killing her enemies faster than a machine gun could.

It was then Shepard noticed that there was no one firing on her position. Then she saw that all of their enemies seem to be fixing their entire attention on Maeteris. Victoria returned back inside and helped Jack to her feet. She then turned to address everyone else present.

"We need to go out there and help the Farseer before she is overwhelmed!"

* * *

><p>Grunt was seething at the sight he currently saw. The so-called eldar was putting him to a shame. He knew by now that Okeer's imprints were wrong. They kept telling him that humans and the likes of them were weak and would not last long in a straight fight. But that was not what Grunt saw. Shepard was strong, Gallardi was strong. But the eldar, who actually looked even weaker than humans, was currently eclipsing some krogan warlords while fighting in close combat. It was unnatural. Grunt was a pureblood krogan. He should be the one crushing skulls and rending limbs.<p>

Grunt looked down for something suitable in the tool shop, noticing a heavy looking sledgehammer. "That'll work!" Grunt muttered and placed his shotgun on his back. He picked up the sledgehammer and they rushed out of the building. He looked for a closest group of husks and with a loud roar he charged towards them.

* * *

><p>Vitoria heard Grunt's roar and turned around to see the young krogan charging towards the husks while carrying a sledgehammer.<p>

"God damn it, Grunt!" Shepard cursed and picked up her assault rifle. She activated her com and sent a general order.

"Shepard to all units! Advance on the enemy but check your targets for friendly fire!"

* * *

><p>Gallardi heard the order to advance and looked around at the surrounding troops. Most of them were still shaken from the eldar's scream. Lieutenant Ritter also heard the order but looked a bit uncertain on what to do. August knew it was up to him to inspire the troops. He knew that invoking the Emperor's name or the Imperium of Man would be useless. Then he remembered the recommendations for the Guard officers on how to inspire the PDF forces and local militia. While every soldier of the Imperium was expected to be loyal to the Emperor and the Imperium as a whole, the PDF's first loyalty was usually to their place of origin. Whether it was a world or a hive city or even a farming community. Therefore, invoking the name of the said world or a hive city was the most effective way to inspire the troops.<p>

"Squad, form up on me," Gallardi shouted and went to exit the building. He heard several footsteps behind him and noticed with satisfaction that all troops still capable of fighting followed him outside. As they formed an uneven line, Gallardi prepared his best commander's voice, the one that once upon a time made his own troops follow him into battle against daemons, orks, necrons and tyranids.

"Men, we advance! Onward to glory! For Horizon!"

"For Horizon!" The soldiers echoed him and Gallardi charged forward.

He looked to his right and saw Shepard lead her team along with platoon strength of local forces. To August's left Major Delgado was leading the rest of his forces. He was moving forward and slightly away from the main engagement, most likely determined to flank the enemy from the left.

"Watch the roof tops!" Gallardi heard Ritter warn them. He looked up and spotted several remaining Collectors stand on the roofs. Curiously, they seemed to completely ignore everyone except for the eldar who was busy slicing the husks to pieces.

Gallardi and his men opened fire on the Collectors and in several seconds they were all dead. August also noticed that he was joined by Garrus and Zaeed, along with a couple of local snipers.

"You didn't think we're going to let you have all the fun?" Garrus remarked with a smirk.

"Small chance of that, Vakarian," Gallardi replied. "Target those husks, but remember that we have our own people somewhere in that mess."

Suddenly there was a loud thundering sound that was accompanied by the tremors in the ground. Gallardi looked up and saw that the Collector's ship, which was now significantly damaged, started to move upwards. The Collectors finally decided that they overstayed their welcome and chose to bail out before their craft was too compromised to travel in space.

August heard cheers from the local troops as they noticed the enemy's retreat.

"This is it, people. We've sent them running to their mothers," Shepard announced over the com. "Now let's finish this."

The joint forces of the Normandy and Horizon started to close around the last group of husks, carefully picking their targets. When there was only a dozen left the firing stopped, allowing both Maeteris and Grunt to finish the remnants in melee. The last husks had lasted only five seconds. Grunt looked around and when he saw that there was nothing left to bash, he let out a victorious roar, shaking his sledgehammer over his head.

All around Gallardi the soldiers started to cheer. August was about to join them when he heard a soft whisper of the Farseer in his mind.

"_It's not over yet. Seek cover!_"

"Everyone take cover!" Gallardi shouted and rushed towards one of the buildings. The men mingled uncertainly for a moment but then all of them decided to follow the suit. And not a moment too soon as the source of danger finally revealed itself.

An enormous husk appeared from behind one of the houses. It was floating and was easily the size of a small tank. The abomination had two huge gleaming eyes that were fixed on the Farseer. The eyes flashed and fired two beams on the eldar. Maeteris raised her hands in defense and created a shimmering barrier that protected her against the enemy attack.

"Concentrate fire on that thing," Gallardi shouted. Immediately dozens of weapons started to hammer at the husk's barriers. It was also hit by biotic powers from Shepard and Jack. With a loud snap the creatures biotic barriers collapsed and the bullets started to ping against its thick hide.

"We need heavy weapons to bring that thing down," Garrus shouted.

August heard an all too familiar whine and instinctively shielded his eyes. He heard an explosion and the husk's screech. He opened his eyes and saw that the creature was now lying on the ground, missing a couple of its limbs.

"Fucking die," Jack shouted as she sent an extremely powerful warp blast. The husk screeched one last time and then it started to disintegrate.

As the husk finally disappeared, everyone started to slowly leave their cover.

"Is it over?" Lieutenant Ritter asked as he looked around.

August looked at the eldar, who simply stood there, staring in the distance. Since there was no warning this time, Gallardi assumed that the fight was finally over.

"Yes, I believe we're done," August replied and approached Shepard. The Commander holstered the plasma pistol with a satisfied impression and looked at Gallardi.

"Shepard, we probably should order Goldstein to do a fly by to make sure there no stragglers," August suggested.

"Yeah, you're right," Shepard replied and made the necessary order. She looked at the still figure of the eldar. "Captain, do you know what happened there? What made her charge like that?"

"I don't know Shepard, we probably should ask her," Gallardi shrugged.

Suddenly, the eldar let out a painful moan and collapsed on her knees. She jabbed her sword into the ground and leaned on it for support.

"Maeteris! I need a medic over here!" Shepard shouted and rushed towards the kneeling eldar. Gallardi quickly followed the suit.

The Commander lowered herself to look at Maeteris' face and placed a hand on the Farseer's shoulder.

"Maeteris, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Shepard asked with concern.

"You wouldn't understand," August heard the eldar mutter. The Farseer pushed the surprised Shepard away, stood up and started walking down the street towards the city's edge. "Leave me!"

Shepard picked herself up. "Maeteris, we want to help!"

The eldar turned around and Gallardi was taken aback by the expression of pure anguish on the alien's face.

"I said leave me alone!" The Farseer shouted and continued to stride down the street.

Shepard looked at August in confusion. Her facial expression was silently asking "_What did I do wrong_?"

"Give it a rest, Commander," August told her and added with reluctance. "I'll... I'll try to talk with her."

"Thanks, we'll wait here," Shepard replied.

* * *

><p><em>Several minutes later on the ouskirsts of the Discovery city...<em>

Gallardi managed to find the eldar outside the city. He found her leaning against a big tree. She was covered in dirt, blood and gore - a far cry from normally flawless eldar. As August got closer he saw that Maeteris' shoulders were shaking, followed by quiet sobs.

"Maeteris," Gallardi asked carefully. "What happened?"

"I asked to be left alone!" The Farseer shouted back. "Is it so hard to understand?"

"Then help us understand why you wish to be alone. Did that Collector do something to you?"

There was a moment of silence.

"It showed me the truth. Nothing more."

"What truth?" Gallardi asked patiently.

Maeteris sobbed and added quietly. "They killed them. They killed my people."

"Who killed them? The Collectors?"

"The Reapers," the Farseer replied. "Or the Ascended, as they call themselves."

Then Maeteris told him the story of the eldar's demise. How they were destroyed during one of the cycles while still being a fledgling civilization. Gallardi remained silent as listened to the alien's tale. He felt conflicted. Some part of him told him that he should rejoice over the eldar's destruction. Their race shall no longer palgue the Humanity's existence. Surely it was a victory for Mankind?

Yet looking at the crying Farseer, August could feel only pity for the alien and her people. It was clear now that the eldar were not soulless creatures as the Imperial preacher claimed. Just like humans these aliens were capable of feeling pain and loss. In her grief, Maeteris didn't act any differently from a way a human woman would have.

"How foolish I was to cling to hope that some of my people survived?" Maeteris asked herself. "It's hopeless now."

"It is not hopeless," Gallardi told her. "You're alive. And you can still continue to fight just like your people did."

"To what end?" Maeteris asked him with a slight edge in her voice. "So that your people may survive while mine did not? What makes your kind more deserving of such a fate?"

Gallardi wanted to retort but held his temper. Those were the words of a broken person that was completely alone in the universe. She had the right to feel angry. Therefore, August took a deep breath and continued to speak patiently.

"If you really feel that way then perhaps you should leave. Shepard is a good person; she will not hold you against your will. But know that we will defeat these Ascended, with or without your help. You, on the other hand, can make that victory better. Ensure that more people survive the war, much like you did today. Hundreds of thousands of man, women and children will see another sunrise because of you. And I thank you on their behalf."

Gallardi turned and started to slowly walk away. There was little he could say to comfort the eldar.

"Forgive me Captain," August heard the Farseer say, her tone much softer this time. "My outburst was uncalled for."

Gallardi turned back and approached her once again. "There is nothing to forgive, Farseer. I would not pretend to understand how you feel right now. Nor would I lie to you by saying that it's going to be all right, because we both know it wouldn't."

August never thought he would say this to an alien, but it felt like the right thing to do.

"For what it's worth, eldar, I'm sorry about your people."

Maeteris was silent for a moment.

"I thank you for your kind words," she replied and turned to look at him. There were traces of tears on her face that made her normally sad expression almost heartbreaking to look at. "I would like some solitude to grieve of my people. You can tell Commander Shepard that I will be present when it's time to leave."

With that she turned around to look at the horizon.

Gallardi reached out and placed his left hand on the Farseer's shoulder guard. He felt her tense a little under his touch but then she immediately relaxed.

"Be strong, Maeteris," he said simply.

"I will," the eldar whispered back. "Thank you... August."

Gallardi turned away and started his walk back to the city.

* * *

><p>"Well, that's about it," Shepard said as she finished telling Ashley about Gallardi and Maeteris.<p>

"Huh, that is actually a new level of weirdness," Ashley replied. "You have a man and a space elf woman from a distant future among your crew."

"From a distant future _and_ another dimension," Shepard corrected.

"And you believe their story?" Ashley asked incredulously.

Victoria tapped the plasma gun. "You saw what this baby did. We don't have anything even remotely close to that much firepower. And you saw what Maeteris could do. That was real magic, not biotic powers."

"I suppose. It's still hard to wrap around my head but whatever. I mean, we once thought that geth weren't going to leave the Perseus Veil, and we both know how that turned out," Ashley said and shook her head. Then her expression turned deadly serious. "All right, Shepard, that's all well and good but now I need answers. What's it with you and Cerberus?"

"It's simple, actually, they rebuilt me. Gave me a ship and resources so that I could stop the Collectors," Victoria replied. "And that is what I'm doing."

"But why Cerberus, Shepard? Why betray the Alliance?"

"I didn't betray the Alliance!" Victoria retorted. "I'm not with Cerberus. They're simply paying the bill."

"So you say," Ashley said with a snort. "But that's not how I see it."

"And what do you see, Williams?" Shepard asked. "Look around! I have four aliens among my crew - Garrus, Mordin, Grunt and Maeteris. Also, Jack the psychotic biotic? She spent most of her life locked inside Cerberus lab as an experiment. She hates their guts more than anyone else in this Galaxy. Do you honestly believe those people would work with me if I was on Cerberus' roster?"

Ashley opened her mouth to reply but didn't say anything.

"Ashley if the Alliance provided me with the same resources Cerberus did, you can bet your ass I would have jumped Cerberus as soon as I had the chance," Shepard continued. "And you saw it yourself. The Collectors are working with the Reapers. We need to stop them."

"You can't say that for sure. Just because some Cerberus boy scout said that the husks are Reaper tech that doesn't mean it's true," Ashley argued.

"Nevertheless, the Commander is correct. The Reapers are behind this," Gallardi said from behind Victoria.

Shepard turned around to face him.

"Captain, how is Maeteris? Did she tell you what happened?"

"She did. Remember that glowing Collector we saw? It was remotely possessed by a Reaper," Gallardi replied. "She managed to enter that creature's mind. It calls itself Harbinger and it controls the Collectors."

"The Reapers can possess other beings remotely?" Ashley asked him. "Is that even possible?"

"It is. We all saw it before Ash," Shepard replied. "On the Citadel, when we fought against Saren."

"Oh, right. Sovereign took control of Saren's husk," Ashley said with a nod.

"What about Maeteris herself?" Shepard asked Gallardi. "What got her so distraught?"

"She finally solved the mystery of her people's absence in your dimension..." Gallardi replied and told them the history of the eldar's destruction.

"My God," Ashley whispered.

"She is indeed the last one of her kind," Shepard murmured. "I can't imagine what she is feeling right now."

"She asked for some time to grieve, but promised to be ready when it's time to depart," Gallardi said.

"I understand. Wait, why did you call the Reapers the Ascended?"

"The Farseer said it was how they called themselves," Gallardi replied.

"It makes sense Shepard. Remember how Sovereign said that the Reaper was actually a Prothean term and not their original name?" Ashley noted.

"I see. Thank you Captain," Shepard said with a nod.

"I'll go see if I can help the locals in any way," Gallardi told her and left.

"Now Ashley, you see why I have to work with Cerberus?" Shepard asked her. "I'm not saying that they are good people, most of them aren't. But now we have a common enemy."

"I guess you're right Shepard," Ashley replied. She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. "You know what bothers me Shepard? How did you know that Horizon is about to be attacked. Did Cerberus give you the intel?"

"No, it was Maeteris who predicted the attack, roughly ten hours ago," Shepard replied. "Why?"

"Ten hours ago? Something doesn't add up Shepard. I was sent here five days ago because the Alliance Intelligence had information that said you're going to visit Horizon," Ashley told her. "The GARDIAN system was just a cover. I was sent here to spy on you. Sorry, but orders are orders."

"You're right Ash, that doesn't add up at all. I never thought about visiting Horizon up until the very last moment," Shepard pondered about this new information. "So someone fed the intel to the Alliance about me, they sent you here and then the Collectors decide to attack. This is not a coincidence. Someone planned this."

"You mean the Collectors?" Ashley asked her.

"They would have been better prepared if they did," Victoria replied. She could only think of one man capable of planning something like this. The Illusive Man. Although why he would hide something as important as this was a mystery to Shepard.

A mystery she was now determined to solve.

"Who else could it be?" Ashley asked Victoria.

"I don't know Ash, but all we can say is that there is a mole in the Alliance Intelligence," Shepard replied.

"Great," Ashley remarked.

Victoria watched as the Kodiak landed on the city plaza. The members of her team started to board the shuttle.

"Well I guess it's time to go," Shepard said. "I could really use someone like you on the Normandy but... You belong to the Alliance."

"And as much I'd like to join, I'm still needed here," Ashley replied. "Someone has to tell the Alliance just what the hell happened here."

"And for once it is not going to be me," Shepard smirked.

"Yeah, go away and leave me to sort through this mess," Ashley sighed. "My head already hurts just from thinking about the amount of reports I'll have to write."

Victoria grinned. "You want to be an officer, marine, you've got to learn to write reports. The brass love reports. They feast upon them."

"Ha-fucking-ha," Ashley said with a snort.

Shepard offered her hand to Ashley. "Are we good, Chief?"

Ashley shook Victoria's hand. "We're good, Skipper."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Right, you know where the review button is._

_I also want to thank mdman1 for his proofreading. He now acts as my second beta reader._

_Also, those of you who spotted the Monty Python's reference receive the approval of Cegorach the Laughing God. :)  
><em>

_Did you know? Originally, Gallardi and Maeteris were supposed to be an Ordo Xenos inquisitor and an eldar harlequin respectively.  
><em>


	12. Friends and Foes in high places

****_Author's note: This huge delay happened because I've spent two weeks thinking about the future of this story's plot. I'm aware that some of my readers want this story to become more Warhammerish while others want it to remain largely a story of Mass Effect but with several WH40k tweaks (which is also my original intention.) I want to inform you that I've decided to stick with my original plot, mainly because creating a new plot will take a lot of time which will also cause longer delays such as this._

_Sorry if my statement disappointed some of you in any way. I hope you'll still like the things if planned for this fic.  
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_Next, I want to mention that I've tweaked slightly the dialog between Gallardi and Maeteris in the previous chapter to make it flow a bit smoothly.  
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_Now, the replies to some unsigned reviews.  
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_Redhand: Well, Sanctuary was never publicly announced as a Cerberus facility so I guess not._

_Lawless Writer: Funny that I've never watched the Doctor Who series. I suppose some writers just think alike...  
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_Hellraptor: Um, nope. No, no and no. Reapers are not powerful, they are effective. They are able to defeat the Mass Effect factions mainly because they forced them to use technologies the Reapers can easily counter. But they are not omnipotent. They sustained such heavy losses against the eldar because... you know, I can write a wall of text about the issue but I don't want to use this chapter for this. If you wish to discuss it, create an account and PM me.  
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_Ardanwen__: Funny idea about Jessie the Gun. And don't worry, the issue of the Wraithbone will be addressed later.  
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_Eric D: Thank you for the review. As I've already said, I've tweaked the dialog a bit. And don't worry, there will tension between Gallardi and aliens in the future.  
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_Nartog: Sorry, can't say anything solid about the Emperor at the moment.  
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_Reviewer45: Yes, the small genepool will be a great hindrance.  
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_Shash: Tali will arrive on schedule.  
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_Perseus: As I said, nothing is certain about the Emperor at the moment.  
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_Force Commander Vin: Yes, Maeteris will eventually start to mingle with the crew more. As for half-eldar... It's a bit early to talk about kids, don't you think? :P  
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_Daeshar__: If you want me to reply then you'll have to activate the PM feature._

_Thank you for your comments everyone.  
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_Now, let's get back to the story._

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><p><strong>Chapter 12: Friends and Foes in high places.<strong>

**Location: In orbit around Planet Horizon, UT-47A Kodiak Drop Shuttle.**

The mood on the trip back to the Normandy from Horizon's surface was mixed. While almost everyone was exuberant about their victory over the Collectors, no one cheered or laughed because of the state Maeteris was in. The Farseer sat silently in one of the chairs with a distant look in her eyes. Victoria wondered what was going on in the eldar's head. It must have been an enormous psychological trauma to witness the death of your own civilization. Granted, Shepard had experienced something similar when her mind interfaced with the Prothean beacons. She had seen glimpses of the destruction of the Prothean's civilization. However that wasn't the same. As terrible as the images were, Shepard had no personal connection to them; Protheans were still aliens to her. It would have been much harder for Shepard to endure the visions if they were about humans.

Still, despite the terrible truth revealed on Horizon, the overall operation was a great success. The colony was saved. The Collector's ship was badly damaged and while Victoria didn't know just how many of those ships there were, at least one of them would be out of the picture for some time. But the victory was not without a price. While Shepard's team members suffered only minor injuries, the local forces had fared worse - 11 dead and 32 injured. It was the price they had to pay for the safety of the over six hundred thousand Horizon colonists. Victoria shuddered to think what would have happened if not for the eldar's prophesy.

Another good thing about Horizon was meeting Ashley. Shepard was glad that she met her friend and that they parted on good terms. It meant that there was at least one person in the Systems Alliance Victoria could trust.

"_Speaking of trust,_" Victoria thought to herself as she once again pondered about the information Ashley provided her with. Did the Illusive Man somehow orchestrate the Collectors' attack on Horizon? To what end? Did he want to ascertain the place of the Collectors' next target so that Shepard and her team could ambush them? If so, why Victoria was not informed of this? Surely, knowing about the attack five days prior to it is better than finding out about it only several hours before the assault.

All that raised another question. Was Miranda aware of this? She was, after all, the Illusive Man's top operative. When Maeteris told them of her vision, Miranda both looked and sounded surprised just like everyone else. Either she was an extremely talented actress or the Illusive Man was indeed not responsible for this attack. But if it was not him, then who?

The idea of interrogating Miranda did not sit well with Shepard. Despite the woman's cold and cynical demeanor Victoria had grown to like Miranda for her efficiency and determination. If only Shepard could read minds like Maeteris or... Jack. That's it! Jack would be more than happy to help Victoria question Miranda without resorting to violence. Shepard turned her head to look at the young biotic. Jack was also sitting quietly, throwing occasional glances towards the Farseer. Surprisingly, Jack was cradling Maeteris' helmet. The Farseer probably forgot to pick it up when the fight was over and it was a bit uncharacteristic of Jack to pick it up since she usually cared only for herself. It seemed that as intransigent as Jack was she seemed to be a bit fond of her reluctant mentor.

The shuttle shuddered to a halt and Victoria heard the engines power down. The people inside began to unstrap themselves as the shuttle's side door opened. Maeteris was first one to leave the shuttle and Victoria rushed to follow her.

"Farseer!" Victoria shouted, trying to attract the eldar's attention. "I just wanted to..."

"I want to apologize for my earlier behavior, Commander," Maeteris interrupted her as she stopped and turned to address Shepard. "You did nothing to deserve my anger. I just was a bit... overwhelmed at the moment."

"I understand and I'm not holding it against you in any way," Victoria told her. "I just wanted to say that..."

"I know you wish to offer words of comfort, but there is little you can say to make the day any brighter," Maeteris said quietly. "I simply need time, there are certain... things I must do for my people. If you'll excuse me."

The Farseer then turned and continued to walk towards the elevator. Shepard saw Jack jog forward as she tried to catch up with the eldar.

"Hey," Jack said and offered the helmet to Maeteris. "You dropped this."

Maeteris turned and accepted the helmet with a slight nod. Then she walked into the elevator and disappeared from sight as the lift's door closed itself.

"Shit," Jack said with a sigh.

"What is it Jack?" Victoria asked her.

"Well, here I was thinking that all that psychic crap I have now is an awesome thing," Jack said as she rubbed her forehead. "You know, being able to sense people's mood is a good way to know if they are up to something. But after today I'm beginning to think that this isn't such a good idea."

"Why?" Shepard asked curiously.

"Because of the Farseer. You know, she is probably on another deck by now but I can feel her sadness even from here," Jack replied. "And it's fucking depressing."

"It's not surprising," Victoria said. "She has seen the death of her entire race."

"It's not just that. It's like her emotions are a hundred times stronger than ours," Jack shook her head. "Try to compare a candle with a fucking military grade spotlight and you'll get the idea."

"I see," Shepard said with a nod. "However, Jack I'm going to need your talents very soon. You're up for it?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Jack asked.

"I am going to ask Miranda a few questions and I want you to tell me whether she is lying or not," Victoria told her.

Jack grinned. "We're going to torture the Cheerleader?"

"No Jack, we are not going to torture her," Shepard replied. "I'm just going to ask her a couple of questions."

"You are no fun," Jack pouted. "All right, I'll do it."

Victoria turned to watch the Hammerhead enter the hangar and rest in its docking cradle. Shepard sensed someone approach her and turned to see Gallardi standing to her right.

"Commander," Gallardi addressed her. "Is there some kind of problem?"

"How did you know?" Victoria asked him curiously.

"Judging by the way both you and Jack are looking at the Hammerhead and the way Jack rubs her hands with anticipation, XO Lawson is in some kind of trouble," Gallardi replied with a shrug.

"Well, that largely depends on Miranda's answers," Shepard said.

"About what?" Gallardi asked her.

"Stick around and you'll find out soon enough," Victoria replied as she saw Miranda getting out of the hovercraft.

Miranda took off her helmet and adjusted her hair. She looked around and saw the trio waiting for her. She confidently approached them although Shepard noticed slight apprehension on Miranda's face.

"Commander?" Miranda asked cautiously. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"You do, Miranda," Victoria replied. "Tell me, did Cerberus have any information about the attack on Horizon?"

Miranda frowned. "What? No, I would have informed you if we had anything. Our operatives are constantly trying to monitor the Collectors movements but usually we're too late to help. If not for the Farseer's vision Horizon would have ended up just like Freedom's Progress and Ferris Fields. Why?"

Shepard turned to look at Jack and was both relieved and surprised to see a disappointed frown on the young woman's face. Surprised that she was wrong about Cerberus and relieved that Miranda didn't try to hide anything from her.

"Huh, she's clean," Jack muttered. "Dammit, and here I was hoping that you were going to lie to us so we could kick your ass!"

"Jack, enough," Shepard told her.

"Shepard what's this all about?" Miranda demanded.

"I had a very interesting chat with Ashley Williams after the fight," Shepard replied. "Do you why she was on the Horizon? Not because of the GARDIAN defense systems, no. She was sent to spy on me because five days ago someone fed them information that _I _would be visiting this colony."

"And you immediately thought of Cerberus?" Miranda asked her.

"Who else? The Collectors? If they were planning to set up a trap for me they would have been better prepared," Victoria replied. "Who else is good enough at manipulating the information? The Shadow Broker? I didn't see any of the Shadow Broker's men among the attackers and I think that to assume that Collectors work both for Reapers and Shadow Broker is ridiculous."

"Yes, it's actually the other way around," Miranda mused.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked her to elaborate.

"Shadow Broker is actually working for the Collectors," the XO replied. "That is why he posted a bounty on you."

"Really? How do you know that?" Victoria queried.

"You didn't know it but it wasn't Cerberus who retrieved your remains from Alchera in the first place," Miranda replied. "The Blue Suns took you and wanted to sell you to the Shadow Broker, who in turn wanted to pass your body to the Collectors. We knew this because one of the Broker's operatives, a Drell named Feron, was a double agent working for us. He was the one who managed to snatch your body during the exchange between the Blue Suns and the Shadow Broker and give it to us."

"Now here I actually sense bullshit," Jack said with a smile and cracked her knuckles. "Spit it out, Cheerleader. I know you're hiding something."

"Miranda?" Shepard said and crossed her arms.

Lawson was silent for a moment. "There was another person who helped retrieve your body along with Feron. But she asked me not to tell anyone about her involvement, especially you."

"She?" Victoria asked.

"I'll not say more Shepard," Miranda shook her head. "I made a promise and I intend to keep it. If she decides to tell you then it will be her choice alone."

"Fair enough," Shepard relented. "But why didn't you tell me about this Shadow Broker business before?"

"The Illusive Man ordered me not to mention it unless you ask directly," Miranda said with a shrug. "Didn't tell me why. Said that it was unimportant."

Judging by the lack of comments from Jack, Victoria figured that Miranda was telling the truth. She turned to address the biotic. "Thank you Jack, that would be all."

"Whatever," Jack replied and walked away.

"Was that really necessary, Shepard?" Miranda asked. "I thought we were on the same side."

"And I really want to think that this is the case Miranda, I really do," Shepard replied honestly. "But I'm still not certain where your loyalty lies. If you promise me that you will not hide anything from me from this point forward then I will promise not to use Jack's talents on you."

"I suppose that's a fair deal, Commander," Miranda agreed. "Very well, Shepard, you have my word."

"Good. Now, back to the original point of our conversation. Do you understand why I immediately thought of Cerberus?" Victoria asked. "Excluding the Shadow Broker, the Illusive Man has one of the largest spy networks in the Galaxy. Judging by the exemplary job he did in making everyone believe that I worked for Cerberus for three months, I thought that fabricating the intelligence about my possible movements wouldn't be too hard for him. But I suppose I was wrong since you don't know anything about it."

"That doesn't mean anything Shepard," Miranda shook her head. "I may be one of his top operatives but I know very little about all Cerberus operations. I receive only briefest reports about projects that I do not oversee myself. Like with Project Overlord - I only knew that it had something to do with the VI's and that Dr. Archer was leading the project. The Illusive Man's policy is 'everything is strictly on a need to know basis'."

"It's like working for the Inquisition," Gallardi muttered. "Even if you're part of the inquisitor's retinue, which makes you a 'trusted operative', you're told things the Inquisition wants you to know. The reason is simple - the less people know about something, the less chance that something will slip."

"Yes, the principle is the same," Miranda nodded.

"So, you're saying that the Illusive Man could have been the one who organized the attack?" Shepard asked Miranda.

"It is possible. Maybe he tried to ascertain the next place of attack so we could ambush them?" Miranda mused. "If so, why not tell us?"

"My question exactly," Victoria said.

"Shepard, the Illusive Man wishes to speak to over the QEC," EDI suddenly announced over the PA.

Victoria looked at the ceiling in surprise. "What, now?"

"Yes. He ordered me to inform him as soon as you return from Horizon," EDI replied.

Shepard looked at Miranda, who also looked confused. "Miranda, did you send him a report that we were going to Horizon?"

"No, I didn't," Miranda shook her head. "With all the confusion and preparations there wasn't really time. I decided to send him a full report after the operation."

"Then how did he know?" Shepard asked no one in particular.

"Perhaps I can clarify that, Commander," EDI supplied. "The Illusive Man tried to contact you earlier when you were already on the planet. He said that he had vital intelligence about the Collectors. Unfortunately, the Collectors were already making planetfall, therefore the Normandy was running silent as per your orders Shepard. When I informed the Illusive Man of your status he remained unresponsive for 2.5 minutes. It is safe to speculate that he was surprised by this information. He questioned on where we got the intelligence about the Collectors attack. I forwarded the video log of Farseer Maeteris' prophesy. He said that it was 'interesting' and then ordered me to inform him as soon as the ground team is back aboard the Normandy."

Shepard exchanged looks with Miranda and Gallardi.

"So what does that mean?" Gallardi was the first to ask. "Did he know about the attack in advance or did he simply monitor their movements?"

"Monitoring the ship's movement is impossible when they enter the Mass Relay network," Miranda shook her head. "Most likely the Illusive Man has someone monitoring the Omega 4 relay, which exists outside of the normal relay network. They spotted the Collectors leave the Omega 4 and enter the general Relay network..."

"And he knew their most likely destination," Shepard finished. "The plan is simple and ingenious if you don't mind the fact it places hundreds of thousands of colonists in danger."

"Still, why not tell us?" Gallardi asked. "I mean, five days! We could have turned that city into fortress."

"Well, there is only one way to find out," Victoria said and looked up. "EDI, tell TIM I'll be right up."

"TIM?" EDI and Gallardi asked in unison.

Miranda sighed. "It's an abbreviation. The. Illusive. Man."

Shepard looked in surprise at her XO. "You mean I'm not the first one who thought about it?"

"Shepard please, while most of the Cerberus staff respects our leader, it wasn't long before someone grew tired of constantly pronouncing his full alias," Miranda replied. "Thus it was either simply 'The Man' or TIM. Or other, less dignified nicknames."

"Damn, and here I thought I was original," Victoria muttered. "Right, I'm off to talk with The Man."

Shepard started to walk towards the elevator when she heard Gallardi's heavy boots follow her.

"Commander, If it is not a problem, I would like to be present during your talk with this Illusive Man," the Captain asked her.

Victoria looked at him. "Why?"

"I curious about the man who leads the Cerberus," Gallardi replied.

"Interested in joining?" Shepard asked, trying to keep her tone light and to hide her caution. She knew it shouldn't surprise her if Gallardi decided to join Cerberus. Both his Imperium and Cerberus seemed to have similar views that humanity should be the sole ruler of the Galaxy. And now, when Victoria was growing fond of the stoic Imperial Captain, the idea they might eventually become enemies was rather unpleasant.

"No, of course not," Gallardi said to Vitoria's surprise. "As I already mentioned, my loyalty lies with the Emperor and the Imperial Guard. I'm simply interested to see what kind of person leads an organization that has so much in common with the Imperium but is outlawed by the majority of Mankind."

"I see no harm in it," Shepard replied with slight relief.

They both ascended to the Combat deck and immediately went to the Com room.

The table and the chairs retracted into the floor. Victoria stepped on the QEC and it started to establish a connection. Gallardi remained standing in the corner outside of the QEC's reach.

The room darkened and the familiar interior of the Illusive Man's office appeared before Victoria. The leader of Cerberus was sitting in his chair and puffing smoke as usual. Shepard sometimes wondered if TIM's smoking habit was just a part of his image or if being the leader of a terrorist organization was a really stressful occupation. Probably the former.

"Shepard. Excellent job on Horizon," Illusive Man said. "EDI just sent me the recordings from your suit cameras. Not only did you save the colony from the Collectors but also severely damage their ship. It will take time for them to make repairs and it gives us a breathing time to organize the assault on their homeworld."

"We don't know how many other ships they have," Victoria said.

"I think it is safe to assume now that they don't have more ships," Illusive Man said. "They met strong opposition on Horizon and they didn't send any reinforcements. They also left the planet leaving some of their people behind. This means that their ship is too valuable for them."

"Let's hope you're correct on that one," Shepard said and crossed her arms before continuing. "I do have questions for you. Tell me, you wouldn't know anything about this attack in advance, would you?"

Illusive Man didn't give any response outright. There was a slight pause as he took a sip from the glass that rested on the arm of his chair.

"What makes you think that I could?" he asked evenly.

"It's just that I've met someone on Horizon," Victoria replied with a shrug. "Namely Operations Chief Ashley Williams, I'm sure you've heard me mentioning her before."

"That does not surprise me Shepard," Illusive Man said. "The Collectors are very interested in you and most likely they know that Chief Williams was part of your crew. Most likely they went for her because they tried to get to you. But what does it have to do with me?"

"Oh, I'm getting to it. Do you know why Williams was on the Horizon in the first place?" Shepard asked him. "She was waiting for my arrival because someone gave them the information that I was going to visit the colony. Weird, because I don't remember planning to visit Horizon at all but that is not important. What is important is how the Collectors found out that Ashley was on Horizon? Someone must have tipped them off."

The Illusive Man took a drag from his cigarette before replying. "I suppose there is no need for secrecy any longer. Yes Shepard, you are correct. I fed the intel to the Alliance about your possible movements. When they sent Chief Williams to investigate, I spread the rumors about it in the Terminus Systems and the Collectors swallowed the bait. You have to understand Shepard that it was the only way to force them to attack the target we choose for them and where we could engage them on our terms."

"Despite the fact that you used my friend and thousands of colonists as bait I actually agree with your plan," Victoria replied. "I have only one question though. Why not tell us about it?"

"Because I knew that you would've protested against using the civilians as bait..." the Illusive Man began.

"I might have protested but I would have agreed to it because the plan is actually sound," Shepard countered. "You just had to ask."

"Maybe. There was also a matter of secrecy," the Illusive Man continued. "I had to make sure that no one alerted the Collectors..."

"Wait, wait, wait! You think that I have a Collector spy among my crew?" Shepard interrupted him. "Yeoman Chambers said that the crew was handpicked by you and everyone I have recruited so far was also recommended by you. Now you're telling me that they can't be trusted?"

"There also certain human and alien you've picked up on Aite," Illusive Man pointed out. "I can't vouch for them."

"Trust me, those two are the last people you'll see working with the Collectors," Shepard told him. "And if it wasn't for the assistance of the eldar, most of the colonists would have ended up on the Collector ship. They were already making planetfall when you tried to contact us."

"I wanted to be sure that the Collectors were fully committed to the attack before sending you in," Illusive Man replied.

"It would have taken us hours to reach the colony! Thousands of colonists would have been already moved to the ship," Victoria retorted angrily.

"Their loss would have been unfortunate but this is war," Illusive man said nonchalantly. "Some sacrifices had to be made..."

"If this is war then perhaps you should leave the planning to those skilled in the art of warmaking," Gallardi said suddenly as he stepped closer to where Victoria was standing. "Because your plan, frankly speaking, was a joke."

"I take it you're Captain August Gallardi," the Illusive Man addressed him. "You've caused quite the stir by your arrival. Miranda sent me some interesting information about you and your Imperium of Man. I don't know how much you know about Cerberus but it seems that our organization and your state have a lot of things in common."

Gallardi crossed his arms. "Perhaps we do. But it seems that military competence is not one of those things."

The Illusive Man narrowed his eyes. "Is that so? Do you think you could have organized this operation better?"

It took all of Victoria's willpower not to giggle at the scene. Her fears of Gallardi joining Cerberus seemed so ridiculous at the moment. Here they were, two diehard Human superiority supporters and they were about to start arguing.

"I do, and it would not have required endangering the colony world in the first place," Gallardi replied. "The Relay network you people use for intergalactic travel give you great tactical advantages. Once the Collectors exited the relay network you could have sent a small fleet to ambush the ship and block its only escape route from this cluster."

"A fleet?" the Illusive Man chuckled. "Captain, you overestimate Cerberus' resources a little. We do not have a spare battle fleet hidden somewhere for such occasions."

Gallardi simply shrugged. "If you don't have it then ask those who do. From what I've heard the Systems Alliance fleet is a force to be reckoned with."

"We are not exactly on good terms with Systems Alliance," the Illusive Man noted cynically. "They would never have lifted a finger to help us."

"You could have asked me to put in a good word for you," Victoria said. "Despite your efforts I still have friends in the Alliance. Their relief fleet is on its way to Horizon at the moment."

The Illusive Man paused for a moment, most likely thinking on a way to contradict both Shepard and Gallardi. "True, the Alliance's assistance would have helped us in the defense of the Horizon but it would've greatly hindered the bigger mission of stopping the Collectors. We would have no way of testing the countermeasures Professor Mordin developed, which is essential to us if Shepard is to assault the Collectors homeworld. Also, the Alliance would have simply destroyed the ship where there might be valuable intelligence about the Omega 4 relay and the Collectors planet."

Gallardi looked at Shepard with fake surprise on his face. "Commander, are the Alliance ship captains incapable of performing the simple task of disabling an enemy ship?"

"No, last I remember they are actually very good at that," Victoria replied with a smirk.

The Captain then turned back to the Illusive Man. "Well, there you have your answer. The Alliance fleet disables the ship. The Normandy's crew boards the ship armed with the salarian's countermeasures and retrieves whatever intel there is. And then we blow up the ship."

Illusive Man looked as if he was about to retort but Gallardi continued his speech. "Also, think of the political value of such a victory. Your Cerberus would have been instrumental in defending a human colony and bringing the alien invaders to justice for all those colonies that were already abducted. You would have done it side by side with Systems Alliance which would have redeemed you in the eyes of the majority of Mankind."

"Cerberus does not need any redemption for its actions," the Illusive Man actually snarled when he said that. "Everything we do is done to ensure the Humanity's domination in the Galaxy. The general population may dislike our methods but they will thank us in the end. History will vindicate us."

"If your plan to ambush the Collectors on Horizon can be used as an example of your methods the Humanity is right to dislike you," Gallardi noted. "You wanted to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of humans only to test the countermeasures against the Collector's weapon? One may actually ask you on whose side you really are?"

"Are you implying that I work for the Collectors? Ridiculous," the Illusive Man said.

"No, I do not think you are. I imply that you do not actually care about the fate of humans, particularly those that were on the Horizon," Gallardi said with a slight edge in his voice. "It is easy to speak about sacrifices when you're not the one who makes them."

Illusive Man simply looked at Gallardi silently for a moment before taking another drag from his cigarette. "Everything I do serves the greater goal of..."

"You know what is the most ironic in this situation?" Gallardi interrupted him. "If you would have organized this right, the Horizon would have been thankful to you and Cerberus for saving them. But instead they owe their salvation to the far sight of the eldar. And they know it. Hell, they might even build a statue in her honor and tell their children stories about how a benevolent alien sorceress descended from the stars and delivered them from a race of space bugs. Now these colonists will grow to like the aliens more. You've done a great service to the aliens despite being a leader of an organization that fights for human superiority."

"Oh, you want the irony Captain? How about you? You've tried to protect the secrets of your weapons from falling into the aliens' hands yet in the end they will still have them," the Illusive Man told him sarcastically. "And they will have you to thank for it."

"What are you talking about?" Gallardi demanded sternly.

"You're obviously not familiar with how the Systems Alliance operates," Cerberus leader replied. "You gave them the technology, they will replicate it but after that the Systems Alliance's Parliament most likely will decide to trade such valuable technology with the Council Races to gain some economic and diplomatic benefits. They might even give it away for free. In the spirit of friendly cooperation."

Gallardi looked at Victoria. "Is it true?"

Shepard sighed. "I'll be honest with you Gallardi, yes they might do it. We are part of the Galactic community. Trading technologies is a part of the economy. All I can say for certain is that something as valuable as weapon tech will not be given for free," she tilted her head towards Illusive Man. "He is just yanking you around."

The Captain looked thoughtful.

"Sorry Captain, I probably should have mentioned it before but there is really nothing I can do about it. Whatever the leaders of the Alliance decide to do with the technology is above my pay grade, I'm just a soldier." Victoria said and added. "I know it's different from the Imperium but that is how the system works here."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Shepard. In the Imperium we are also taught not to doubt our superiors," Gallardi replied. "And even if they do pass the weapons to the aliens, it matters not. With or without this advantage the Mankind will always persevere."

"Oh but I do think it matters," Illusive Man continued to scorn. "The aliens already have numerous advantages over Humanity. The salarians and their quick thinking and reflexes. The turians who are naturally tougher than humans and whose every citizen is required to serve in the army. The asari with their long lifespan and natural biotics..."

"Surely if they are so powerful they wouldn't need weapons made by such a meager race as us humans," Gallardi interrupted him with a sarcastic smile.

The Illusive Man glared at him. "Your mockery does you no credit, Captain."

"And your lack of faith in Humanity does no credit to you," Gallardi retorted sternly. "Traitors of the Imperium are also armed with lasguns. Like the Imperium they also have Space Marines and Titan Legions. They also have foul sorcery and daemonic entities at their side yet the Imperium didn't back away from a fight simply because the enemy has the advantage. You know why? As one of the Imperium's most revered saints said - it is not a tank or a lasgun that is Mankind's strongest weapon. Courage and courage alone stands above them."

"Then your so called 'saint' is a naive idealist, much like Shepard here," the Illusive Man said.

"Thanks! I'm right here you know," Victoria said and waved her hand.

Gallardi chuckled. "You know he probably doesn't know it but he actually complimented you right now."

"Really?" Shepard asked with a grin.

"Yes, I'll explain it later," the Captain replied and continued speaking with the Illusive Man. "And you are correct. That man was an idealist, though he was far from naive. He was a man of vision who always had faith in Humanity's strength. Something you seemed to lack. If you truly believe that aliens are superior to the Mankind then you're fighting a war you've already lost."

The Illusive Man was about to say something but Gallardi already turned away from him and addressed Victoria.

"Sorry for all this interruption, Shepard," he said curtly. "If I'm not needed I'll leave you to your debriefing."

Victoria nodded to him and Gallardi quickly exited the Com Room. Shepard turned back to the Illusive Man with a satisfied smile.

"Shepard, I'll appreciate if you would not allow your subordinates openly question me in the future," the Illusive Man said as he took another long drag from his cigarette.

"Really? Because you know, I enjoyed that show very much," Victoria replied. "Too bad there wasn't some popcorn, that would've been a blast."

"This isn't very cooperative, Shepard," the Illusive Man argued.

"Oh! Now, after withholding crucial information about our enemy for some abstract reason, you're talking about cooperation?" Shepard asked him. "Ever heard of double standards? If you want my cooperation then try to cooperate yourself. As for Gallardi? I do not treat him as my subordinate because, let's be honest, while he might lack the diplomatic skills and he doesn't have my reputation as a Spectre and Savior of the Citadel, military wise he is far superior to me."

"What makes him so special?" the Illusive Man asked incredulously.

"The largest military operation I've participated in was the defense of Elysium. Everything else was just a bunch of small skirmishes and special operations," Victoria replied. "Gallardi, on the other hand, fought in wars since he became an adult. Technically speaking he is probably the most experienced human field officer in our Universe. This is why I will always value his tactical input. And right now he is correct about you. You may be good with manipulating the information and gathering the intelligence but you should leave the military planning to us. Only that way are we going to have proper cooperation."

The Illusive Man pondered Shepard's words and then replied with a nod. "Very well Shepard. We'll try it your way."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Victoria told him sourly. "So, what is our next move?"

"I will continue to look for a way for you to safely travel beyond the Omega-4 relay," the Illusive Man replied. "In the meantime you should continue to build your team. I'm forwarding another set of dossiers to you."

"Got it. Anything else?" Shepard asked him.

"I suggest that you start with your former teammate, Tali'Zorah. The last reports say that she is currently somewhere in the Perseus Veil which can make her extraction problematic," the Illusive Man told her. "Other than that there was only one issue I wanted to discuss with you. The eldar."

"What about her?" Victoria asked.

"Are you sure you can trust her? She is a member of an alien species we know nothing about," the Illusive Man said. "If that is what she really is and not some genetically altered human."

"Gallardi confirmed that she is an alien, so did Dr Chakwas' preliminary DNA scans of the Farseer," Shepard replied. "What, you think that she is some kind of spy for the Collectors or Reapers?"

"Do you really believe that she is capable of seeing the future? Such a skill is highly improbable," the leader of Cerberus told her. "Perhaps someone is simply feeding her the information..."

"Really? To what end? So she could lure us into a trap. I don't see a reason for that," Victoria replied. "I was on the Horizon and I saw how powerful she is. If Maeteris wanted us dead she could probably turn this ship inside out, literally, with just a wave of her hand. And I think that after what we found out on Horizon she has more reasons to hate the Reapers than anyone else. Her entire race, or at least our dimension's analogue of them, were wiped out by the Reapers."

"Interesting," the Illusive said and light up another cigarette. "Still, I would keep an eye on her if I were you."

"Noted," Shepard said. "Is that all?"

"Yes Shepard, I'll leave you to your mission," the Illusive Man nodded. "Good luck."

The connection closed and the room lit up once more. Victoria stepped off the table and it returned to its original position. Shepard used the terminal on the table to access her files to look through the recent dossiers. One of them was indeed about Tali. It stated that she was on some secret mission a planet called Haestrom in the Far Rim, deep inside geth space.

"EDI, give me Joker," Victoria said as she looked up.

"Hey Commander, what's up?" Joker replied immediately.

"Set a course for planet Haestrom, Dholen System," Shepard ordered him.

"Dholen System?" Joker paused for a moment. "You do know it's in the geth space right."

"Yup, our next recruit is there," Victoria replied.

"Really? Wait, don't tell me we are going to recruit geth now," Joker asked her.

"As amusing that would be I don't think that is going to happen any time soon," Shepard smirked. "No, we're picking up Tali, she is probably doing her secret mission for the Flotilla she mentioned before. Make sure the stealth systems are active as we enter the system."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Joker told her. "Course plotted."

"Thanks Joker, that is all," Victoria said as she returned to viewing the remaining two dossiers.

One was for an asari Justicar Samara. The dossier said that the Justicars were an ancient monastic order of warriors whose members traveled through the asari space upholding the laws of the Asari Republics. The dossier stated that the Justicars' training regime was even more rigorous that that of asari commandoes. Combining that information with the fact that Samara was over 700 years old meant that this Justicar was an extremely powerful individual.

The other dossier was for a drell assassin Thane Krios. Victoria only saw a drell once on the Citadel, there were very few of them in the Galaxy and most of the Drell lived on the Hanar homeworld Kahje. It would be interesting to actually speak to one. The dossier said that Thane Krios was trained to be an assassin from childhood and was a quick kill biotic specialist and an expert marksman. Definitely someone Shepard could use in her team.

Both of the dossiers had one similarity in them - the current location of the operatives. Illium.

Illium. That was where Liara was living and working now. Victoria's mind immediately went to the response to the letter she sent to Liara several days ago.

_Shepard._

_It is wonderful to know that the rumors about your return are true. I would be delighted to see you again should you visit Illium in the near future. I will try to contact you as soon as you reach the planet._

_I'm sorry I cannot say more over the email. It is best that we discuss everything in private._

_Until we meet each other again._

_Sincerely yours Liara T'Soni._

Shepard. Liara stopped calling her Shepard not long after the events on Noveria. It was either Victoria or Vic. For some reason Liara considered Victoria's name very beautiful and would sometimes simply pronounce it out loud because Liara liked how it sounded. Now she was once again Shepard. "_Is she trying to distance herself from me?" _Victoria thought.

Shepard sighed and shook her head. It was no use to stand here and guess what was going on with Liara. Everything would become clear once they met each other. Maybe things would work out somehow. Maybe not. The most frustrating thing was that Victoria was not sure which outcome would be a better one. Part of her longed to be with Liara once again. To look into those angelic eyes, to touch the familiar tiny blue scales of Liara's skin.

The other part didn't want to break Liara's heart once again because there was a good chance that Shepard would not survive the mission against the Collectors. Maybe Liara was indeed better off without Victoria?

Shepard shut down the terminal and turned to leave the Com Room. When the door opened she saw Gallardi leaning against the corridor's wall.

"Anything new?" the Captain asked her.

"We're on standby until TIM finds a way to safely travel beyond the Omega 4 relay," Shepard replied. "In a meantime, we continue to build our team. The Man already gave us another set of dossiers. We're already moving to pick up one of them. She is an old friend of mine - a quarian engineer named Tali'Zorah."

"She was with you during your hunt for Saren correct?" Gallardi queried.

"Correct," Victoria confirmed. She smiled and crossed her arms. "So, Gallardi what's your impression the Illusive Man?"

Gallardi snorted. "I'll be honest with you Shepard. Some part of me hoped that those rumors about Cerberus and this TIM were an exaggeration or propaganda. That he was actually a good person but simply misunderstood. A champion of Mankind whose is frowned upon by the Galaxy that likes to be friends with xenos. But he is not. Oh, I'm certain that he believes that he fights for the good of all Mankind in his own twisted way. We have a lot of them in the Imperium - ruthless Administratum adepts to whom the people are just numbers on a list. Or cardinals who spend their lives in their cathedrals reading holy texts and consider themselves experts on heresy when in fact they've never seen a heretic soldier in the flesh. They preach so loudly about sacrifices mainly because they're not the ones who sacrifice. It's all impersonal for them. But not for me. Emperor forgive me, I've sent a lot of my men to their deaths in the past. All for the sake of victory, all for the sake of completing the mission. And they never questioned me. All I could do for them in the end is to try and remember their faces and write down their names so that I'll never forget their sacrifice even if I the only one who remembers it."

Gallardi sighed and lowered his head. "You know I shouldn't actually speak like that. Being a loyal soldier of the Imperium means you should be willing to lay down your life in the name of the Emperor but it also means that you should keep your mouth shut about things you don't like about the Imperium. It's funny that I've always hated dissenters yet now I actually sound like one."

"Trust me Gallardi you're as far from being a dissenter than it's actually possible. I certain that if you were given an opportunity to give your life to protect Humanity you would accept it without second thought," Victoria assured him. "This is just your human part speaking out loud after a long silence. There is nothing wrong with being human."

"To you perhaps. I was taught otherwise. Maybe this place with its freedom of thought and freedom of choice is finally getting to me and I'm not sure it's a good thing," the Captain pinched the bridge of his nose. "Doesn't matter. Although, speaking about freedom of choice. There is a question I wanted to ask you Shepard."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why do you work with the Illusive Man?" Gallardi asked her. "I've studied your history. You were always loyal to the Alliance and I believe you still are. And you're very open-minded towards aliens. You don't fit with Cerberus ideals."

"Well, to keep a long story short, you already know that they were the ones who rebuilt me. When I woke up the Illusive Man asked me to lead this mission against the Collectors. At first I really thought about returning to the Alliance and asking for their help instead of using Cerberus resources," Victoria explained. "But TIM already thought about that. Three months before I regained consciousness, he started spreading rumors about me working with Cerberus. Therefore when I woke up and went to the Alliance and the Council they greeted me as a traitor who works for terrorists. My previous achievements were probably the only thing that stopped them from arresting me on sight."

Shepard shrugged. "Technically I can still surrender myself to the Alliance now. We have enough evidence to force them to act against the Collectors. Still, the Alliance Command will most likely launch a full investigation of my dealings with Cerberus. I will be grounded for some time and the Collectors will be free to abduct more colonies. That is why I will continue to work with Cerberus. To ensure that no more colonies get hit by the Collectors."

"So the Illusive Man played on your sense of duty to ensure your cooperation?" Gallardi grimaced. "Figures. Why did he revive you in the first place? Don't get me wrong, you've more than earned the honor but still. Why you?"

"I asked him the same question. You know that he spent an entire fortune bringing me back? Enough to outfit a small army," Shepard replied. "TIM said that because I was capable of doing the impossible and that I not just one person but a symbol, an ideal of Humanity."

"He calls you an ideal but he goes to great length to destroy your image and make sure your former allies turn away from you, so that you work only with him," Gallardi mused. "He is also strangely reluctant to involve Systems Alliance military. Like he is trying to hide something from them."

"I believe that the Illusive Man has some kind of personal agenda," Victoria told him. "Something besides stopping the Collectors."

"And he doesn't want the Alliance to find out," Gallardi concluded. "But what could that be?"

"I have no idea at the moment," Shepard said with a shrug. "But I hope that we find out what it is sooner rather than later."

"Agreed," Gallardi nodded and stifled a yawn.

"Go get some rest Gallardi, I think we all earned it today," Victoria said with a slight smile.

"That we did, but first I'll get a shower and raid Gardner's place," the Captain said as he turned to walk towards the Armory.

"Sounds like a plan," Shepard grinned. She was about to follow him when EDI started to speak.

"Shepard there is an incoming call on the QEC," the AI reported.

Both Gallardi and Victoria stopped. "Is it TIM again?" Shepard asked.

"No," EDI replied. "The source of the call is originated from the Council of the Matriarchs Chambers, the city of Serrice, Thessia."

"The Council of the Matriarchs?" Gallardi queried.

"The Asari government," Victoria explained. "Patch them through EDI."

Victoria returned to the Com room and heard Gallardi following her, probably out of curiosity. Once again he remained in the corner of the room.

The Com Room darkened once more and the hologram of single asari appeared before Victoria. This asari was dressed in a long ornate blue robe and her stance and expression left no doubt that this woman was a powerful and respected Matriarch. The Matriarch smiled warmly as she began to speak.

"Spectre Victoria Shepard, I'm glad that you were able to accept my call at such a short notice. I was hoping that we could converse briefly if that is of no trouble."

"It is not, although you have me at a disadvantage here, Madam..." Shepard spoke.

"Forgive my lack of introduction. I'm Matriarch Arrenia D'mal, member of the Council of Matriarchs," the asari replied with a slight bow of her head.

The name immediately clicked in the Victoria's head. Arrenia D'mal, mother of Fayure D'mal, the asari painter whose pictures Shepard saw in Hock's collection.

"It's an honor, Matriarch Arrenia. I've seen some of your late daughter's works. The Universe is a less bright place without her."

"It is," the Matriarch said quietly. "A good friend of mine told me that it was you who were instrumental in finding my daughter's paintings. Spectre, words cannot describe the depth of my gratitude for returning the works of my Fayure. My time in this world is slowly coming to an end and it is good to have something to remind me of her until that faithful day when we finally reunite with each other in the embrace of the Goddess."

"It was the right thing to do," Shepard replied. "I'm glad I could help."

"Shepard, I would be glad to consider you a friend of House D'mal and my personal friend. Should you accept my friendship then I would be honored to assist you in any way I'm able," Matriarch Arrenia declared. "I heard that there are some questionable rumors about your involvement with a certain criminal organization. I do not believe that a woman of virtue such as you would suddenly decide to align herself with terrorists. If you need someone to speak in your defense then it will be my honor to speak on your behalf."

"I appreciate your confidence in me Matriarch but I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. There is partial truth in those allegations," Victoria told the older asari. "I indeed have dealings with Cerberus although I didn't swear an allegiance to them. I greatly disapprove of their methods and I do not share their ideals but at this moment we share a common enemy. That is why I've accepted their help."

Matriarch Arrenia was silent for a moment before she continued to speak. "I see. Your honesty does you credit Spectre. Even if you do work with Cerberus I believe that your quest is a noble one. Therefore, I still offer you my full support and the support of my house. If you have any request, please, do not hesitate to ask."

Victoria sensed a great opportunity before her. A great and respected member of asari society was offering her something she needed greatly. Shepard decided to go for it.

"There is something you can give me Matriarch," Victoria began. "I want you to give me the benefit of the doubt."

The Matriarch looked at Shepard with confusion on her face. "The benefit of the doubt? About what?"

"About the warning I gave to your people and all other races two years ago," Shepard replied.

Arrenia nodded slowly. "You speak of the Reapers."

"I do. Matriarch, for the sake of both our people and all other sentient beings in the Galaxy, please listen to me," Victoria asked the Matriarch. "The Reapers are not a myth or an elaborate lie that Saren created to force the geth to follow him. The huge dreadnought that attacked the Citadel, Sovereign, was a Reaper and he was just their Vanguard. More are coming from dark space beyond the edge of the Galaxy. Even now they use the Collectors as proxies to attack the human colonies and are abducting my people."

"The Collectors are behind those abductions?" the Matriarch asked her. "And how do you know that they are governed by these Reapers."

"Matriarch, I fought against the Collectors on Horizon scant hours ago. It will be all over the news soon," Victoria replied. "And yes, we have proof that the Reapers are behind the Collectors. It is... very intangible but it's still a proof."

Arrenia turned to her left and stepped off the holographic reader. She reappeared briefly several times and Victoria understood that the Matriarch was pacing on her end. Then Arrenia stopped and rubbed her temples before turning back to address Shepard.

"The situation is quite serious, isn't it?" the Matriarch asked.

"It is, Matriarch Arrenia. I'd stake my life on it" Victoria replied with a nod.

"I believe you," the Matriarch said. "I will do everything I can, Spectre. I will raise the issue among my sisters in the Council of Matriarchs. Any information you have on these Reapers, even if it's intangible, please send it to me so I can use them as an argument. However I must warn you Shepard, even though my voice carries great weight I'm but a single Matriarch. We'll need solid proof of this threat. There must be something, I'm certain of it. When you find it, contact me and we shall present it to the Citadel Council. I will support you. Your voice is now my voice."

"I'll find it Matriarch," Shepard promised. "Thank you, your support means a lot to me."

"I believe it is I who should thank you," Arrenia said and bowed. "I wish you luck in your quest, Spectre Shepard. May the Goddess guide you on your path. Farewell."

Victoria bowed her head slightly. The image of the Matriarch disappeared and the light returned to the Com Room.

"Well, that was interesting," Shepard said as she turned to look at Gallardi. "When I sent her the note about her daughter's collection I expected some kind of formal letter of gratitude but not this."

"I suppose this means we have an influential ally among the Asari government?" Gallardi asked her.

"Yes, I believe we do," Victoria replied.

Gallardi snorted. "How bizarre this could become? One of our own people schemes and plots behind our backs while an alien, a powerful leader no less, pledges her full support for our cause!"

"Ironic, isn't it?" Shepard replied as they both exited the Com Room. "Now we just have to find that damned 'solid proof'. I hope it will not be too late when we actually find one."

"Well, we could always ask the Farseer to just jam the vision of her people's destruction into several heads," Gallardi shrugged. "It worked with Jack, it might work on other people."

"I suppose," Victoria agreed. "I wonder what she is doing right now..."

* * *

><p><em>Some time later. Maeteris' cabin...<em>

The Farseer examined her ruined tabard. It was filthy and covered in the blood of the Collectors and pieces of husk's flesh. It was also torn in several places where the husk's claws managed to reach her. They didn't even scratch the surface of her rune armor but the cloth was not so fortunate. Maeteris knew she'd have to either acquire some new clothes or resort to wearing her armor all the time. Perhaps when or if they visit some other colony she should ask Shepard to help her find some simple decent clothes.

Maeteris folded her tabard and placed it on her table. She knew she had to wash it later but it would have to wait. Right now the Farseer simply didn't have the strength to do it. Maeteris sat on her knees in her usual position on the floor and sighed deeply.

The memory of her people's destruction was still fresh in her mind but it was now bearable. Maeteris was once again in control of her own emotions. Her allies' attitude also helped. Gallardi's words of comfort were... unexpected but not unwelcome. She found it somewhat ironic that the only one she felt she could confide in was her former enemy. Maeteris felt pity and compassion coming from every member of the ground team (except for Grunt, the krogan beast was simply too excited about the recent fight to care about anything else). That Jack bothered to pick up the Farseer's helmet and carry it for her was also a welcome gesture.

And while Maeteris was still greatly saddened by recent events there was another emotion she felt right now. Determination. The Farseer now had a very clear reason why she had to live and fight alongside Shepard, Gallardi and others. The Reapers had to fall. The lost souls of her kin deserved nothing less than the utter destruction of those soulless machines. Perhaps this was Maeteris' fate that she came to this Universe and it wasn't just some side effect from a certain daemon's banishment. If so, the Farseer welcomed her new destiny. She would see the Reapers burn.

Vengeance was delayed for far too long.

There was also another duty Maeteris had to perform as the last of the eldar. Her kin died to the last soul and there was no one left to perform the last rites traditional for the children of Isha. Maeteris knew she was not a very good singer but she would try her best, hoping that her mourning song will bring at least some peace to the souls of the dead.

Maeteris closed her eyes, cleared her throat and started to sing.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, in the mess hall...<em>

It was lively in the mess hall today. Those people who participated in the defense of Horizon were exchanging their stories while the rest of the crew eagerly listened to them. The most vocal of them was, of course, Grunt who explained in detail just how many skulls he crushed. Garrus, Gallardi and Mordin were discussing among themselves some kind of beam weapon they saw the Collectors use. Zaeed sat near Kelly and Patel and was reciting his viewpoint of the battle; once again comparing it to some mission he had 'back in the days'.

Strangely, Jack was rather quiet as she picked through her food. Occasionally, she would look at the direction of Maeteris' cabin and then continue silently eating. Miranda was also rather quiet but this was because of what Shepard told her about the Illusive Man and his plan for Horizon. It was obvious that the Normandy's XO was trying to somehow rationalize the Illusive Man's actions and was failing miserably at it.

Victoria finished her meal and was about to stand up and return her tray to Gardner when she heard something. At the back of her mind she heard someone singing. Shepard immediately recognized Maeteris' melodic voice and the beautiful language of the eldar. Victoria turned around, expecting to see the Farseer in the mess hall but she was not there. Shepard was confused as to how she could hear the eldar because the voice didn't sound like it was coming through the dynamics of the ships PA.

Victoria noticed that the mess hall became deathly quiet. She looked back at her fellow crew members and saw them in the same state of bewilderment as she was. Everyone was looking around themselves, trying to find the source of the voice.

Shepard looked up. "EDI, is this... are you broadcasting this somehow?"

"No, Shepard," the AI replied. "I cannot explain this phenomenon. My monitoring devices show me that the Farseer's singing can only be heard inside her cabin. Yet, judging by the reaction of all crew members, all of them hear it somehow. Even Mr. Moreau who is currently in the cockpit."

"She sings with her mind... kind of," Jack muttered. "At least I think she is."

"It's beautiful," Shepard heard Kelly mutter and she agreed with the yeoman vehemently. The song was the most beautiful thing Victoria had ever heard.

While Shepard didn't understand a single word of the song there was doubt about its purpose. Maeteris was mourning her people. Reminded of the story of the eldar's fall Victoria also felt that they should honor the long gone aliens somehow.

She stood up and walked towards the Gardner's counter. The elder Mess Sergeant seemed to understand her intentions without a word as he turned to open one of his shelves and took out two bottles of brandy. Shepard took the bottles and motioned Gardner to follow her. The crew immediately emptied their cups and gathered them in single spot so that Victoria could fill each one (with the obvious exception of Garrus, although his cup was mostly full). Once the cups were filled the remaining brandy was dumped into Grunt's big tankard. Then Victoria started to speak.

"Some of you might not know it yet but recently we've found out that the eldar race indeed inhabited our Galaxy a long time ago. Just like the Protheans they were destroyed by the Reapers. They were still a pre spacefaring race when the Reapers attacked but from what I understand they've still put up a good fight," Shepard said and paused for a moment.

"Some of you might ask yourself: If these Reapers destroyed so many races, what chance do we have? My answer to you will be: a greater chance than those who came before us. The war against the Reapers shall not be won by us alone. This war has been fought for millions of years and every time someone resisted it was a small victory in itself."

"Each of those races denied the Reapers in one way or another. Whether it was Protheans who made sure that the Reapers can no longer control the Citadel remotely and use it as a gate to bring the Reaper armada into the Galaxy. Or like the eldar - the people of a single world who stood defiantly against an entire Reaper force. They fought and died as free people, taking a lot of Reapers with them. Reapers that _we_ no longer have to fight. Or maybe it was some other unknown race whose weapons only made small cracks in the Reapers' hulls. We will use every advantage those races gave us to defeat those machines. And when the day of victory dawns it's not going to be only our victory but of all those races' as well."

Shepard raised her cup.

"So here is to the courage of those who fell to give us a fighting chance. They shall forever have our gratitude."

"To the courage of those who fell," several people echoed Victoria.

The crew finished their drinks and started to disperse. Some went to rest, others returned to their duties. Some stayed in the mess hall and continued to listen to beautiful and sad song of the lonely eldar.

Maeteris' song lingered further outside of the Normandy. Because of the serenity of the Warp the song's echo traveled far away and reached other worlds. Most of the sentient beings were incapable of hearing that echo...

Except for those who could...

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Ninmah Cluster, Mulla Xul System, Planet Uttuku.<strong>

The Queen gently released the hold on the mind of her friend, an asari named Letra, as she compiled her message. The asari bowed as she accepted the Queen's message. It was to be delivered to a certain human, Shepard, whose song of compassion and forgiveness was the sole reason the Queen and her children were alive and could compose the music once more.

Letra promised that she would deliver the message as soon as possible. She then asked the Queen if there was anything else she could do to help the Queen and her people more. The Queen asked for the usual set of supplies and goods her children needed in order to survive on this remote planet. Their new home was a very poor planet in terms of resources but it was also a very secluded place that no one visited unless they had no other choice. The only thing of value here were the various precious gems deep within the planet's crust, which the workers mined. The gems were then given to Letra so she could use them to trade with other races.

Letra smiled and bowed once again. The Queen also bowed her huge head and bid her friend farewell and wished her a safe travel among the stars. Letra thanked the Queen and turned to leave.

It was then that the Queen heard it. An echo of a very powerful song. Someone was singing among the stars. At first the Queen though that one of her siblings also miraculously survived the destruction of her race at the hands of the krogan. But as she continued to listen she noticed certain foreignness to the song. The singer was not one of Queen's kind although it was obvious that they communicated in the same way. The Queen concentrated on the song, trying to divine its meaning. While the words themselves had no meaning to the Queen, the colors of the song told her everything. The singer's music was bittersweet and carried great sadness. It was about the lost children whose songs were silenced forever, never to be composed anew. The singer was the last of her kind and she was mourning the passing of her people. The Queen immediately felt certain kinship with her, because not so long ago she too was the last of her kind.

The Queen focused even more greatly on the song trying to divine the identity of the singer. She received a glimpse of a sleek ship that traversed the void. The ship was somewhat familiar to the Queen. In fact, it strongly resembled the ship Shepard owned. Could the singer be a part of Shepard's swarm?

The Queen looked at the retreating form of Letra and sent out a loud tune to stop her, asking the asari to delay her departure a little. There was another message she wanted to be delivered.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Crescent Nebula, Tasale System, Planet Illium.<strong>

The daemon was getting tired of this game. It was no longer interesting to run away from the woman that once spawned the body that now hosted the daemonic entity. For quite some time it was funny to see how the righteous woman hunted her own daughter for crimes the latter never committed. The soul of the body's original owner was gone. Well, not completely but for last four hundred years the cowardly soul never tried to challenge the daemon for the control of the body.

The daemon was now on the world called Illium. It was a good hunting ground - there were a lot of nightclubs and plenty of asari souls to feast upon in the night. But now the hunter was once again closing in on the daemon, absolutely ignorant of what she was actually hunting. The daemon had to once again decide on how escape from this world and shake her pursuer off for a couple of years.

Or it could just finally confront the older asari and kill her. It would be easy. It could even play with this "Justicar" before consuming the woman's soul.

The daemon was about the make its decision when it heard the song. Somewhere out there in the Galaxy there was a very powerful soul moaning about some great loss. The daemon didn't care. Suddenly, all it cared was that this was probably the most delicious soul in the whole Galaxy and the daemon immediately wanted to taste it, to savor it. And when it consumed that soul completely, the daemon could use a new body to wander the galaxy for another couple of centuries.

But first, it had to find this soul somehow. No longer interested in this world and the Justicar, the daemon decided to once again look for a way to leave the planet so it could start its search of its newest prey.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Planet Illium.<strong>

The hunt was good today. It was unlike any hunt M'tarr had before but so were many other things on this world with its artificial forests of metal and stone.

Some time has passed since that day when M'tarr was taken from the Moarheff, the World of the Hunters. M'tarr's own curiosity was the reason she was captured. When a giant metal bird appeared in the sky, most of the hunters cautiously hid in the shadows of the trees. But not M'tarr. She wanted to see the strange bird up close. M'tarr saw the bird land and was very surprised when a cavity opened on the bird's side and four bipeds stepped out of it. They were strange, they had four eyes and they had some kind of carapaces on their bodies that didn't look natural. M'tarr also felt that these bipeds were not Gifted like M'tarr and her fellow hunters were.

Before she could study the strange arrivals any further she saw one of the bipeds raise some kind of strange tube with a handle and point it in M'tarr's direction. The next moment M'tarr felt a painful sting as if a giant mosquito bit her in the leg. M'tarr looked at her leg and saw something sticking out of it. Before she could examine it further, M'tarr felt dizzy and her vision became blurred. In a moment, M'tarr lost her consciousness.

When she woke up, M'tarr found herself in some kind of cell that was made of small metal bars placed crosswise. She looked around and saw many similar cells that carried different animals. M'tarr recognized some of them as they were the ones that inhabited the forest of her home. The others were unknown to her.

Somehow M'tarr knew that she was now in the giant bird's belly. It seemed that the bird's innards were also made of metal which meant that the so called 'bird' was most likely something created artificially. Sometimes one of the bipeds would come see the cells and would distribute a foul smelling food among the animals. The biped would also place food in M'tarr's cage but she refused to eat it. She was a proud hunter, not a youngling or the sick one; she wouldn't eat food offered by others. She would either find her own food or starve to death.

Some time later several of the bipeds came into the cavern where the cells were gathered and picked up several of them, including M'tarr's cage, and began hauling them somewhere. Eventually the cages were delivered to a much larger, dimly lit cavern. There were hundreds of cages there, each contained a different animal. There were also many bipeds there; some were different from the four eyed ones she saw before.

One type of bipeds caught M'tarr attention. These were more graceful than the four eyed ones, had only two eyes and a curious fringe on their heads. When one of them approached M'tarr's cage she noticed that these bipeds skins were covered in tiny scales. But what was more important to M'tarr was that these bipeds were Gifted. Not in the way the hunters were, these bipeds' Gift was a rudimentary one, like that of a newborn hunter. M'tarr decided to call these bipeds the Dull ones.

One of the Dull ones was currently studying M'tarr. M'tarr tried to use her Gift to communicate with the Dull one but alas, even if she (the smell told M'tarr that this Dull one was a she) noticed M'tarr doing something, the Dull one didn't reply in any way. It only stared more curiously at M'tarr. The female then turned and approached one of the M'tarr's captors. She pointed at M'tarr's cage and both bipeds started making strange noises. This was probably the way these bipeds communicated.

Soon the conversation ended and the Dull one brought up her hand and it started to glow in orange light. The four eyed one did the same and its hand began to emit a strange glow as well. After a moment, M'tarr's captor nodded and the glow disappeared. Two of the M'tarr's captors picked up her cage and started to lug it somewhere. The Dull one followed them.

They traveled for some time. At some point M'tarr's cage was placed in a pitch black cavern and it stayed there until it was picked up once again. This time however it was not carried by four eyed bipeds but a single biped that seemed to be made entirely of metal. The same Dull one was also present. Soon after that M'tarr was released into a much larger cage that had a floor with grass and natural ground. Later, the Dull one arrived with food and water. This time, the food was much more inviting but M'tarr still refused to eat. She sensed that it confused the Dull one greatly. The next day she appeared once again, with different food and while M'tarr was now very hungry, she still refused to eat.

The Dull one decided to open the cage and enter. M'tarr decided to use this as an opportunity to escape. She dashed towards the opened door, narrowly escaping the startled Dull one. M'tarr saw an exit from the cavern and rushed outside. She found herself in a clearing that was surrounded by high walls. Any creature without wings would've had trouble jumping over those walls but M'tarr was not an ordinary animal. She used her Gift to augment her muscles and then jumped, reaching the wall's top with a single leap. She was about to jump down to her freedom when she heard a frantic shouting behind her.

M'tarr turned around and saw the Dull one follow her into the clearing. The female was trying to tell M'tarr something in her language and M'tarr felt that perhaps this Dull one was genuinely worried about her. Maybe she wanted to have M'tarr as some kind of animal companion but simply could not understand that M'tarr was not an animal. She didn't want to be kept in a cage and fed regularly, she wanted freedom. She wanted to go back to Moarheff and to hunt like she always did.

With some sadness, M'tarr jumped to her freedom, leaving the well-meaning Dull one behind.

She found herself in a very strange place. She was surrounded by giant spires made of metal and some other transparent material. The spires reminded her of the termitaries M'tarr saw on Moarheff although these were much bigger and instead of insects they were filled with Dull ones. It was obvious that M'tarr was no longer on her homeworld but most likely on the homeworld of the Dull ones, they seemed to be everywhere. The sky was filled with thousands of metal birds that moved back and forth in neat parallel lines. M'tarr continued to stick to the shadows as she continued to explore this strange forest.

Eventually, M'tarr stumbled upon a piece of natural landscape. It was a sizable pond with lots of trees and bushes around it. A perfect place for M'tarr to hide. First thing M'tarr did was to sate her thirst by drinking water from the pond. Then she started to hunt but it proved futile it was as if there was no wildlife around. M'tarr could not find any trace of some kind of rodent she could catch. However M'tarr soon felt a curious scent in the air. It was a smell of burned meat mixed with some other aromas that made M'tarr's mouth water. She quickly set off to investigate the source.

It led her to a strange place where a lot of Dull ones and some other bipeds gathered. They entered a strange construction and after some time most of them left carrying something that smelled very tasty. "_Is this the way these people hunt?_" M'tarr thought to herself. If so then perhaps she had to adapt to the realities of this place. She saw a couple of bipeds leave the place and walk towards some kind of wooden contraption M'tarr saw other bipeds use to sit on. Both of the bipeds sat down and started to consume their food. M'tarr decided to carefully approach them.

As she got closer, M'tarr studied the two bipeds. They were smaller in size, which probably meant that they were younglings. One of them was a Dull one and another, while not Gifted, looked similar to the Dull one except that her skin lacked scales and had a lighter shade. She also had fur on her head instead of a fringe.

M'tarr saw that the younglings noticed her approach. Through her Gift she felt that while the Dull one was a bit wary of M'tarr, her not Gifted friend was absolutely delighted to see M'tarr. As she got closer the not Gifted slowly extended her arm and tried to touch M'tarr's head. M'tarr allowed it to touch herself and the not Gifted began stroking M'tarr's head affectionately. In a moment, the Dull one joined her friend by scratching under M'tarr's chin.

M'tarr leaned closer and tried to sniff the food these two had with them. The not Gifted seemed to understand that M'tarr was hungry and she grabbed a part of her meal and offered it to M'tarr, saying a strange word - 'cheeseburger'. It was a strange construction of different types of food placed upon one another. M'tarr sniffed it and felt that there was meat inside. Not willing to push her luck, M'tarr took this 'cheeseburger' into her mouth and turned to leave.

As she made several steps away from where the younglings sat, M'tarr felt that the two were very disappointed to see her leave. M'tarr turned around and then bowed deeply to display her gratitude to the kind bipeds. This exited the younglings very much and they started to wave their hands to M'tarr. Seeing that the two were in a much better mood now, M'tarr finally left.

M'tarr found a reclusive place and ate her cheeseburger. At first she wanted to just dig out the meat but M'tarr was curious as to why the bipeds would mix their food in such a way. Therefore, she ate the cheeseburger completely and found out that it was delicious. M'tarr hoped that she will be able to hunt down more of these cheeseburgers in the future.

M'tarr decided to find a place to rest. She looked for a biggest tree she could find, climbed on it and used one of its bigger branches to rest. As M'tarr was about to close her eyes she heard something strange.

She heard a song coming from the stars. Instinctively, M'tarr knew that the person who sang this song was a Gifted one. As she continued to listen to it, M'tarr wandered if there many such individuals among the stars. Maybe there was one here, on this world? Perhaps if M'tarr found one, he or she would understand M'tarr and help her return to Moarheff.

With this new hope, M'tarr closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I know the last part is a bit confusing. It will become clearer when you find out who M'tarr is.  
><em>


	13. Quarians in trouble

_Author's Note:__ I'd like to apologize once again for the delay. It's just that the last month was not very inspiring. First I found out that my grandmother was terminally ill. Then she died. Therefore, I hope you'll understand that I was not in the mood to write fanfiction._

_Then things started looking up because I've managed to get a new job. Of course, it also had its downside because my new job is indirectly tied with the EURO 2012 soccer/football championship and I had to do a bit of overtime work._

_But now everything is stable once again and we can continue._

_Now, the anonymous reviews:_

_Perceus:__ Nope, M'tarr is not an exodite._

_Redhand:__ You'll have to wait and see._

_Eric:__ Thanks for the advice about my grammar._

_Nid hunter13:__ No, M'tarr is not a kroot. Try again!_

_Ardanwen:__ All those issues you've mentioned will be addressed. Except for the rachni and the C'tan. I'm not going to bring either C'tans or necrons into the story._

_Everybody else:__ thank you for your comments._

_Because of what happened on Horizon, the original timeline was shifted a bit. Therefore, Shepard arrives on Haestrom a bit earlier than she did in the game. Hence the changes to the canon mission._

_A short summary of this chapter: Gallardi is singing, Mordin is a scientist salarian and Shepard works in the civilian housing demolition department. :)_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13: Quarians in trouble.<strong>

**Location: Normandy SR-2, Armory.**

_You'll get flak jacket and a gun  
>In case you'll volunteer to come.<br>To list and fight the foe today.  
>Through the Warp and far away.<em>

_Through the Warp and battle fray.  
>Despite fatigue, blood loss and pain.<br>The Emperor points and we obey.  
>Through the Warp and far away.<em>

Gallardi quietly muttered the words of an old Imperial Guard song as he was cleaning the lenses of his lasrifle's barrel. He'd need to replace them and the barrel soon. He already felt a slight fall in accuracy when he used the gun on Horizon. It was a major drawback of the hotshot lasgun. The weapon was sturdy and with proper maintenance could serve for almost a year without replacement parts. But only if you used shots with the normal power setting. The high powered shots, while much more potent and capable of penetrating the Astartes power armor, put a great strain on the weapon itself. That was why storm troopers always had a steady supply of spare parts and carried some of the most needed components with them.

Right now, the closest Guard quartermaster was Emperor-alone-knew-how-many light years away. If the distance between two different universes could even be measured by light years. Gallardi's only hope now lay with the Systems Alliance scientists. If they could recreate the Imperial weapon then August's problem with replacement parts would be solved. Gallardi switched his attention to the weapons casing and continued to quietly sing.

_When duty calls me I must go_  
><em>To stand and face another foe.<em>  
><em>But part of me will always stray<em>  
><em>Through the Warp and far away.<em>

Thinking about the Systems Alliance brought up the disturbing truth that was revealed to Gallardi yesterday during a conversation with the Illusive Man. He didn't admit it in from of the Cerberus' leader but August was extremely uncomfortable with the idea that he, even indirectly, passed the valuable Imperial tech to aliens. True, Mankind wasn't at war with said aliens but that could always change. The small, irrational part of Gallardi's brain told him that he should be angry with Shepard for not warning him about the Alliance but August knew that was just stupid. She didn't lie to him; she did exactly what she promised August when she passed the weapons to her superiors in the Alliance. She didn't give it the Citadel Council, although technically as Council Spectre she had the right to do so. They were also her superiors and Shepard made an oath when she was appointed as a Spectre to serve and protect all of the Council races, not just Humanity.

_"And even if she did warn you? What would you have done then?_" Gallardi asked himself. Would he have withheld the technology? Would he have stated that Mankind shall get the weapons only if it turns into analog of the Imperium of Man? It was not his call to make; the technology belonged to Humanity, not to him. What Humanity decides to do with it was its decision.

Upon thinking further on the issue, Gallardi had to concede that selling the technology to the Aliens was actually not a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario was that it could be stolen and in a short time every other race would be armed with lasguns. August knew that neither the turians nor the asari nor any other xenos in this Galaxy would shy away from using weapons made by humans, unlike the eldar or the tau back home. If the Alliance managed to sell it, Mankind would at least gain something from it. So long as they didn't sell it too cheaply.

_When chaos stalks upon the land_  
><em>I'll neither hold nor stay my hand<em>  
><em>But fight to win a better day<em>  
><em>Through the Warp and far away<em>

There was also another matter to consider. The destruction of the eldar and countless other civilizations urged Gallardi to evaluate Mankind's chances against the Reapers. During the ship's night cycle, he spent a couple of hours looking through the Extranet for information about Humanity's military strength. There weren't any actual numbers but August found an article, written by a turian no less, about the capabilities of Humanity's military. The article stated that the major races considered Mankind something of a sleeping giant, since only roughly three percent of the entire human population volunteered for military service. Upon searching for the rough estimate of human population, Gallardi calculated that approximately 350 million humans served in the military.

_350 million_.

It was less than an amount of Guardsmen Segmentum Pacificus drafted into the Emperor's service per annum. The Systems Alliance was nowhere near the strength of the Imperium of Man. They also didn't have Space Marines or Titan Legions. The largest Alliance spacecraft were smaller than Imperial Navy escort class ships. As much as Gallardi hated to admit it, chances that Humanity alone could defeat the Reapers were extremely low. They would need allies and those allies would have to be armed with advanced weapons for everyone to even have a chance of surviving the coming war. Of course there was a chance that those weapons would be turned on Mankind after the war with the Reapers but that was something Gallardi and other humans could worry about later. After all, if they manage to defeat the race that annihilated all sentient life in the Galaxy for Emperor only knows for how long, everything else should be easier.

_If I should fall to rise no more, _  
><em>As many comrades did before, <em>  
><em>Then make the traitors dearly pay.<em>  
><em>Through the Warp and far away.<em>

Gallardi finished cleaning his weapon and carefully assembled it. He placed it in the locker and took out his plasma pistol. Another shot from this and the gun would become useless. This was bad because the gun had only been used twice and every time it turned the tide of battle, sparing the team the risk of sustaining casualties. August placed the gun on the workbench before him and stared at it. Then he looked up the door that led to the Tech Lab and the domain of the salarian scientist.

It immediately reminded Gallardi of the conversation he had with Garrus and Mordin previous evening. The turian asked August if he noticed the beam weapon the Collectors used on Horizon and whether it was also a laser weapon. Gallardi told him how he saw the weapon's beam trigger the kinetic barrier and that whatever that weapon was it was not a laser. Mordin joined their conversation by providing a theory on the principle of this beam weapon. He said that it was most likely a particle accelerator weapon. The particle accelerator had a similar principle to mass accelerator weapons but instead of firing a solid metal slug it used a stream of particles that were accelerated to a fraction of the speed of light. It looked like a laser weapon but it still triggered a kinetic barrier. Then Mordin provided a theory that the weapon also might use a focused radiation. Then Garrus noticed a certain similarity between a Collector particle beam and Magnetohydrodynamic weapon of the Sovereign and their conversation continued...

While Gallardi's initial shock of working and living with the xenos on the same ship was long gone, the entire discussion he had yesterday still felt completely unreal. Because honestly, here he was, an Imperial Storm trooper Captain with seven commendations for exemplary service, five commendations for valor, four commendations for unshakable resolve in defense, four commendations for exemplary command, one silver Aquila and of course the Warden of Cadia commendation. And he was dining at the same table with two aliens while discussing with them weapons and tactics used by another two alien races! It was like sitting with an eldar and an ork discussing a best way to disembowel a tyranid and just how pathetic the tau are in close quarters combat.

_Then fall in line beside me son, _  
><em>With colours blazing like the sun.<em>  
><em>Along the road to come-what may.<em>  
><em>Through the Warp and far away.<em>

"_Through the warp and far away indeed,_" Gallardi though and chuckled inwardly. Although it was just a song, the last words of its chorus made August think. _The Emperor points and we obey. Through the warp and far away._ Was him being here not just a twisted joke of some daemon? Was all this a part of some great plan of the Master of all Mankind? If so, why him? And what was the point? Was Gallardi supposed to act as a preacher and convert the humans here into Imperial faith and help create another Imperium of Man? If so, why send a soldier? Why not send an ecclesiarch or a confessor or better even a saint?

Or maybe Gallardi put too much value on his person? Maybe this was indeed just an accident and the Emperor didn't really care about his existence? And why would He? The Emperor was too busy trying to protect an entire Galaxy from falling into darkness. What was the fate of a single soldier to Him? Back in the Imperium Gallardi was most likely listed as killed in action. As he was part of the Inquisition, all his activities would be classified. No one would even notice his passing. He would have become just another nameless sacrifice upon the altar of the war against Chaos.

Not that it greatly mattered to August. Service was never about glory to him; it was about doing his duty and dying with honor.

While Gallardi was rather bad at dying, he could without false arrogance say that he was rather good at doing his duty like all Harakoni Warhawks were. _Improvise, adapt and overcome_. That was what August and his comrades were famous for they were competent, fearless and more importantly, tactically flexible. They were frowned upon by more traditional Guard regiments like those stuck-ups from Mordian Iron Guard or those zealots from Tallarn or weirdos from the Death Corps of Krieg but the Warhawks could care less. The Imperial commanders used those regiments when they wanted to drown the enemy in numbers. But when they wanted some difficult problem solved and the numbers were not enough, they used someone like Cadians, Elysians or Harakoni. Someone who could not only use their guns and charge the enemy's without fear but could also use their heads to complete their objective if straightforward approach failed. Someone who could adapt to any battlefield.

Gallardi looked at soon-to-become-useless plasma pistol once again. "_This is just another type of battlefield, August,_" Gallardi told himself. "_Improvise, adapt and overcome._" What he was about to do next would be considered heresy and Gallardi knew that he would most likely burn in hell for this. But if it saved someone's life then so be it.

August disconnected the fuel cartridge from the pistol and placed it on the workbench. He took the plasma pistol and put it into his weapon locker. Then Gallardi picked up the cartridge and left the Armory. He quickly crossed the corridor and stopped before the door to the Tech Lab. Gallardi took a deep breath and opened the door.

The salarian was at his usual place before his terminal. He was typing furiously something and did not notice Gallardi's presence at first but then he stopped and looked up.

"Captain, excellent timing! Was about to contact you to share something interesting," the Professor said with a smile.

Slightly taken aback by such statement, August paused, unsure how to reply.

"You wanted to contact me?" Gallardi asked him.

"Correct. Was studying the scans of the eldar Farseer that were provided to me by Dr Chakwas," Mordin replied. "Made a lot of interesting discoveries."

"What did you find?" Gallardi asked him curiously.

"Physical appearance is extremely deceiving," Mordin said with uncovered excitement. "One may consider the Farseer to be fragile but that is far from the truth as it is reasonably possible. Bone and muscle density suggest that in term of sheer physical strength she is similar to a well-trained human or turian soldier. She clearly confirmed it on Horizon when she engaged the enemy in close combat."

"Also, a very developed neural system," the salarian continued. "Only have a basic brain scan, but can speculate that the eldar have much quicker reflexes and thought processes. Also, high metabolism, and of course the psychic powers and the long life span. One can say that they a perfect race, or at least someone very close to perfection. Which is... unnatural."

"You think that the eldar are unnatural?" August queried.

"Don't have enough evidence to support it. More like a hunch," Mordin said. "Good geneticist myself. I look at the DNA strand and the body structure and can't shake a feeling of looking at something that was designed, altered, shaped. Not a product of natural evolution. Nature always leaves weaknesses, they act as a population control mechanism that ensures that one species never completely overpowers everyone else. It looks like the eldar have been altered at some point of their history to ensure a higher chance of survival. But to what purpose?"

Gallardi shrugged. "Maybe they did it to give them an edge in their fight against the necrons?"

"Mentioned them before. A race of sentient machines? Similar to the Reapers perhaps?" Mordin mused.

"Somewhat. The Inquisition Archives contained information that the eldar fought against them long before Mankind even reached space for the first time," August told him. "It also seemed that no one won in that war. The necrons simply disappeared into their tomb worlds at one moment, leaving the eldar almost unchallenged and allowing them to create their own empire among the stars. The next time the necrons started to appear was somewhere around the 40th millennium, but the Eldar Empire was long gone by that time."

"Ah yes, you've mentioned some sort of grand catastrophe decimated the eldar," Mordin said and asked Gallardi. "What was it? Civil war? Disease?"

"Unknown. There was next to no information on that in the Archives. From a few interrogations we know that something known as "The Fall" happened, but little beyond that," August said and shrugged. "Must be a touchy subject."

"Something morally questionable perhaps?" Mordin mused. "Interesting."

"Was this all you wanted to ask me?" Gallardi asked the salarian scientist.

"In part, yes. Have discovered another curiosity about eldar DNA," Mordin said.

"What is it?" Gallardi asked him.

"Astounding level of similarity with human DNA. If wasn't aware that Farseer is an eldar, would have taken her for a heavily genetically modified human," Mordin replied and took a deep breath. "Also, the eldar and the humans have similar chemical structure, similar morphology. Can only hypothesize without proper study but believe that the two species are capable of something that was thought to be impossible before."

"What is that?" Gallardi asked him curiously.

"Natural hybridization!" the salarian stated almost triumphantly.

"And that is?" August looked at him with confusion.

"Members of two species of different gender are capable of conceiving a viable offspring by natural means only, without any artificial intervention," Mordin replied with a smile. "Fascinating, isn't it? A child that can bears features of both parents. Which brings me to my final question: have you ever encountered a hybrid child back in the Imperium?"

"Of course not, such thing would be..." Gallardi started to object but the salarian interrupted him by raising both hands.

"Please, Captain. Aware of the cultural taboo against such unions but it is simply statistically improbable that such a thing never happened," Mordin told him. "Even among the most moral societies there is always present a certain number of social and sexual deviants. Also there is a matter of heretics, who, as I understand it, are not bound by the same morals as you are. And the last thing, the most disgusting of course but such is a bleak reality of war: mistreatment of prisoners of war or plainly speaking - rape."

August pondered the professor's words. He was indeed correct on all accounts. Not all Imperial citizens were pure in the eyes of the Emperor. And the fact that the eldar were not as physically repulsive as the orks or tau didn't help. They were attractive in their own way so, like Mordin said, some people might get ideas. And Gallardi certainly could not vouch for chaos worshippers. They did some terrible things to worship their four Dark Gods, so consorting with an alien was most likely a no brainer for them.

"I suppose I can agree with you on everything except the rape. We aren't famous for taking alien prisoners, something like that could occur only among heretics. And even then, as you might have noticed, the eldar are rather proud and arrogant race, they consider every other race to be primitives. Therefore an eldar woman would rather take her own life than allow a human male to... well, you know," August told Mordin. "As for your question no, I have never heard nor encountered such a hybrid. If someth... someone like that was ever born somewhere, it was not public knowledge."

"Pity. Would've been interesting to study one, especially social behavior. A person that shares the traits of two different species. Resourcefulness, adaptively and relentlessness of humans. Psychic powers, quick thinking and longevity of the eldar. Imagine what such a person could accomplish," Mordin said and inhaled deeply. "Thank you for answers, Captain. Now, I believe you came here for a reason? Something I can help?"

August hesitated for a moment and then placed the fuel cartridge onto the salarian's desk. "This is ammunition for my plasma weapon. There is only one charge left so it means that we need to figure out how to produce more if the weapon is to remain active. Emperor knows, we might need it in the future. Since you seemed to be competent in dealing with unknown technology, I thought you could figure out how to create more."

Mordin activated his omni-tool and began scanning. "Hm. A canister with highly compressed gas mix? Interesting," he muttered am pressed a small probe to point where the canister would connect to the gun. "Rather stable gas mix. All elements are easily acquirable. Will need to buy some additional equipment and the gases themselves but other than that should have no trouble in creating more ammunition."

Gallardi stared at him. "That's it? You already know how to do it?"

"Yes. Can speculate that the gun itself is more complex," Mordin nodded. "The ammunition is rather simple. Don't have to be a renowned scientist to figure out. The resources to manufacture it are available on the free market."

"Strange that the Alliance still haven't figured it out," August muttered to himself.

"They didn't? Curious," Mordin said and rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Tell me; are they aware that you have an ammunition shortage?"

"Well, of course they..." Gallardi began but stopped abruptly. "Actually, I'm not sure. Commander Shepard was the one who presented the blueprints to the Alliance. Maybe she just forgot to mention it..."

"Possibly," the salarian agreed. "Also, meant it when said that the manufacture is rather simple. As simple as fuel for flamethrowers. The Alliance scientists probably think that we are capable of doing it ourselves."

"I understand," August said with a nod. "Thank you, I suppose."

"Reluctance to share technological advancement is understandable," Mordin said, waving a hand dismissively. "Here to help Captain, not to steal your secrets. No longer work for the STG and the Salarian government."

Gallardi crossed his arms. "Huh, I somehow I knew you're more than just a scientist. Too many scars for someone who should spend all his time in a laboratory."

Mordin returned to typing on his terminal. "Generally try to avoid detection. Not always successful. Still, mostly acted as a scientific consultant. Quit the job several years ago."

"If you don't mind my question, why are you here?" August asked him. "I can understand the presence of Vakarian - he is a member of the Commander's old team. Grunt is here to shoot things. What about you?"

"Repaying the debt to Shepard for her help on Omega," Mordin replied. "Also, personal motives. Figured that working on this mission will save more lives than I ever will by running a clinic on Omega."

"But they are not your people," Gallardi contradicted. "This is a purely human matter."

"No longer see a meaningful distinction between the races. Human, salarian, batarian, krogan; all of them sentient beings," Mordin said with a shrug. "Good people and not so much, all of them deserve a chance to live and self-determinate."

"I see," Gallardi nodded and started to leave. "I'll leave you to your work."

"Have a favor to ask you, Captain," Mordin said, looking up from his terminal.

"Yes?"

"Mentioned that you have some reports on various species of your universe on your OSD. Would like to study them when the translation is done," the salarian asked Gallardi. "Always interesting to study new species. Good for free time."

"Hm, why not. Maybe you'll find out something interesting," August replied.

"Much appreciated," Mordin said and returned to his work.

He didn't get far because at that very moment Shepard decided to make an announcement over the PA.

"This is Shepard. We're in Dholen System and will arrive to Haestrom's orbit shortly. All available ground team members report to the briefing room."

Gallardi and Mordin exchanged glances. "Well, duty calls," August stated and they both left the Tech Lab.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Normandy SR-2, Com room.<strong>

Victoria looked up from her terminal as she heard the door to the Com room open and saw both Gallardi and Mordin enter.

"I take you were not far away because I made announcement only a minute ago," Victoria said with a slight smile.

"We were in the lab. I asked for Professor Solus' assistance to figure out how to manufacture the ammunition for plasma weapon," Gallardi replied as he took his usual place. "Turns out it was a rather minor issue."

"Really?" Shepard asked and looked at Mordin.

"Yes. Placed a requisition order for necessary materials and equipment," Mordin nodded. "As soon as we have it, will create a steady supply of ammunition."

"Once we're done on Haestrom, we'll visit Illium. Will you be able to find everything you need there?" Victoria asked him.

"Absolutely. Illium is a trade hub. There is little of what you can't buy there," Mordin replied.

"Great, now we only need the Alliance R&D to figure out how to create more of those things because I really enjoyed using one on Horizon," Victoria said with a smirk.

The door the room hissed open once again and more people filed in. Everyone except for Maeteris was present and Victoria decided to start the briefing.

"For those of you who do not know it yet, we continue to build our team while Cerberus looks for a way for us to safely travel through the Omega 4 relay," Shepard announced. "Which is why we are here, looking for our tech expert Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She's a former teammate and she is somewhere on Haestrom. Since the Dholen System is under geth control, we can expect a lot of hostiles on the ground. The plan is simple: we hit the ground, help the quarians with whatever business they have on Haestrom and get out. If they've lost their transport then we provide extraction for them."

"Now, I assume everyone had some experience with the geth, except for our most recent team members," Victoria said and looked at Grunt, Jack and Gallardi.

"I still remember those three Yummy mechs on Purgatory so I think you Jack should have no problem with the geth," Shepard said and saw the young biotic grin savagely. Victoria then turned to look at Grunt. "Grunt, have Okeer imprinted in you at least something about the geth?"

The young krogan scratched his massive head. "The imprint says they are fragile robots that are no match for a true krogan."

"Right," Shepard sighed and turned to Jacob. "Make sure his weapons have the disruptor ammo mods."

"Will do, Commander," Jacob nodded.

Victoria looked at Gallardi. "Which leaves you, Captain. I'll try to quickly bring you up to speed. The geth are..."

"A race of sentient machines created roughly three hundred years ago by the quarians as a labor force. The geth rebelled against their creators and by the end of war between two the quarians were forced to leave their homeworld and their colonies," Gallardi interrupted Shepard's explanation. "Since then, the geth mostly kept to themselves until two years ago they invaded a human colony of Eden Prime. The rest is a history known to almost everyone present."

"I see you've done your homework," Victoria smiled. "I remember you mentioning some kind of sentient machines you have fought against back home. The necrons, right?"

"Correct, although from what I saw on the Extranet, these geth are not nearly as dangerous as the necrons," Gallardi replied.

"They aren't?" Shepard asked.

"The recordings I saw showed that a single soldier is capable of killing a single geth one on one with ease. The necrons are far more durable: I saw a guardsman waste an entire clip from his standard lasgun and it barely scratched the surface of the necron warrior. Hellguns, bolters, and plasma weapons are more effective but it still takes lots of firepower to take one down," Gallardi explained. "This still doesn't mean shit because they will regenerate and stand up like nothing happened. Even if you do manage to make a killing shot it will just teleport away."

"If they are sentient machines, how could they regenerate?" Miranda asked him curiously.

"Quite efficiently, Miss Lawson. Trust me on that," Gallardi told her.

"So, that means that you have a lot of experience dealing with synthetics. Good, then it's business as usual," Victoria conceded. "Check your equipment and Taylor, make sure that you..."

"Bring heavy weapons," Maeteris' voice finished for Shepard as the Farseer suddenly entered the Com Room.

There was a momentary silence in the room before Victoria continued. "Yes, I was about to say that."

Shepard studied the Farseer. It was the first time after the Horizon that Maeteris has left her room. Despite what she has endured, Victoria noticed that the eldar woman didn't look sad. In fact, Maeteris looked rather determined. She was also clad in her armor but only partially. She had only her breastplate and greaves on; the rest of the armor was missing.

"Do not mistake my appearance for my intentions, Commander. I will not be joining you on this mission," Maeteris stated simply. "Its dangers do not warrant the use of my powers."

"Good to know," Victoria said with a nod. "Nevertheless, you're wearing your armor because..."

"The tabard I use as a civil garb was badly damaged in the last fight," Maeteris explained. "I understand we shall visit some more or less civilized world in soon, shall we not?"

"Yes, after recruiting Tali we going to Illium," Victoria replied. "It's one of the richest colonies and is mostly populated by the asari."

Maeteris nodded. "As I said - more or less civilized. I hope I will find something appropriate and I will be grateful if you help me acquire it. As you understand I do not possess any currency."

"Not a problem, I'm sure we'll figure something out," Shepard said with a smile. "I'm more concerned about how you feel. Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"I'm well but your concern is welcome. I hope that the rites I performed have brought at some comfort to the souls of my people but I know that they will find their peace once the Reapers are vanquished," the eldar woman said and straightened her posture. "Which brings me to the main reason why I've come here. Commander Shepard, I wish to inform you that I, Farseer Maeteris of the Craftworld Ulthwe, fully commit myself to our common cause of defeating the Reapers and all those who support them. And let the Gods be my witness the Reapers shall rue the day they've chosen to make the eldar their enemy."

Victoria stood up to show her respect. "I thank you Farseer. Your commitment is most welcome."

Maeteris nodded. "Please understand my decision not to join you on your assignment. As I said it hardly warrants the use of my powers. On the other hand, you and your companions could use this opportunity to further sharpen your skills."

"I understand," Shepard agreed, recalling the eldar's advice from after Purgatory.

"I shall be in my chambers should you need my counsel," Maeteris said and tilted her head slightly. She then turned away and quickly left the briefing room.

"Well it's good to know that she is on our side for good," Zaeed said from his spot. "After that shitstorm I saw on Horizon, she is now the last person in the Galaxy I want to piss off."

Garrus chuckled. "We all agree on that."

Victoria was about to continue when she saw Kasumi suddenly raise her hand like an overeager schoolgirl. "Yes Kasumi, what is it?"

"I volunteer!" Kasumi declared excitedly.

Shepard quirked her brow. "Volunteer? For what?"

"For shopping trip with Maeteris on Illium. I've been there a couple of times and I know a couple of fabulous boutiques that will have exactly what she needs," Kasumi explained. "While Kelly's not here I'm sure she'd volunteer too. Can we go? Please?"

Victoria smiled and shook her head. "Fine, you can go but only if you promise not to pester the Farseer too much."

"Promise!" Kasumi said and made an angelic face.

"Alright, you two will show the Farseer around," Shepard told the thief.

Kasumi let out a joyful squeal. Victoria chuckled and was about to continue only to be interrupted again, this time by Joker talking over the Normandy's PA.

"Commander, we'll Haestrom's orbit in about 30 minutes. I'm reading a lot of geth platforms in orbit but so far the stealth system seems to be working like a charm."

"Got it Joker," Victoria said. "Tell Goldstein to warm up the Kodiak."

"Aye aye, ma'am," the pilot replied.

"Commander there is another matter I need to inform you about," EDI said as her hologram appeared on the briefing table. "It seems that Haestrom's sun has finally overwhelmed the planet's protective magnetosphere. Therefore there is a high level of solar radiation on the planet's surface. Prolonged exposure will prove fatal. Usage of fully insulated gear is strongly advisable."

"Thanks EDI," Shepard said and turned to her crew. "You heard her people. We have a level 2 environmental hazard. Be sure to check your hardsuit's seals. Meet you in the shuttle in twenty minutes. Dismissed."

_Forty minutes later. Aboard the Kodiak shuttle._

_"_We're approaching the drop point," Goldstein announced from the shuttle's cockpit.

"Right people, listen up. We still have roughly half an hour before sunrise, therefore we can proceed freely," Victoria told her crew. "When dawn comes we will stick to the shadows to minimize the exposure. Let's make this quick and we would not have to worry about extensive anti-rad treatment after this. Clear?"

There were several affirmatives from the people around her. The shuttle's side door opened revealing Haestrom's predawn landscape. The shuttle touched down and Shepard quickly jumped out, her team closely behind her.

They started to proceed towards the last place the Normandy had picked up the traces of the quarian communications. Because of the solar radiation it was impossible to know what the quarians were talking about but at least Shepard's team knew the approximate location of their team.

Suddenly Victoria heard a muffled sound of a weapons discharge.

"Gunfire up front," Gallardi reported. "I see a gate and some kind of blockhouse."

"Move in and secure it," Shepard ordered.

They entered the blockhouse and the first thing Victoria spotted were the remnants from three geth platforms, two troopers and a juggernaut. Shepard traced a potential direction of fire that killed the geth and spotted a male quarian slumped against the wall. He was weakly trying to bring up his shotgun.

"Hey! Don't shoot, friendlies!" Victoria lowered her rifle and quickly approached the wounded quarian. "Mordin I need help over here and I need it now!"

The quarian looked up at Shepard. "Human? What's a human...*cough* doing here? Who are you?"

"I'm Commander Victoria Shepard. Can you tell me your name?"

"Hesset'Megar vas Tonbay," the quarian replied and coughed on more time. "You're Shepard? Tali'Zorah told us so much about you..."

"I'm sure she did," Victoria said with a smile. She saw Mordin appear beside her and start administering the first aid. The salarian performed a scan but when Shepard looked at him he just shook his head.

"Will do what I can," Mordin quickly replied and started applying medigel.

"Don't bother...*cough* I know I'm a goner," the quarian said weakly. He grabbed Victoria's hand. "Listen! I tried to buy the others some time but the geth will be on top of them soon. Help them... And find Tali'Zorah *cough*. She should be in the observatory," Hesset released Shepard's arm and activated his omni-tool. "Here... is the location of our base camp, it's right next to the observatory. Make sure Tali'Zorah is safe, she and the data are the only thing that really matter."

"I'll do everything I can," Shepard promised.

"Good, good. Go... Keelah se'lai..." the man muttered weakly. He took one more labored breath and then went limp.

Shepard was not capable of closing the man's eyes so she just placed her hand on his faceplate. She downloaded the data from the quarian's omni-tool and then she stood up and walked outside of the blockhouse.

"The geth went this way. If we hurry up we might get a drop on them," Victoria announced to her team as she transferred the location of the quarian base camp for everyone to see. "Let's push forward."

They advanced through the gate. In the distance Victoria spotted several geth platforms advancing towards the large building roughly 3-4 kilometers away. Shepard scanned the surrounding area and saw a side path to her right. It was heavily shaded so Victoria figured it was used by the quarians for navigation when the sun was up back in the days when Haestrom was still a quarian colony.

"Gallardi, take several people with you and use that side passage to flank those geth!" Shepard ordered.

"I'm on it," Gallardi replied. "Vakarian, Lawson, Massani with me!"

The four-man fire team moved to the right. Victoria and the rest advanced further down the main path and took positions behind all available cover.

"All right people, let's get their attention!" Shepard said and opened fire on the closest geth. She was followed by a volley of gunfire and biotics.

A good portion of the synthetics went down immediately but true to their nature, the geth reacted quickly and returned fire. The team jumped into cover and started to exchange fire with the synthetics. Shepard knew that her current position was not perfect but it didn't have to be. As soon as Gallardi flanks the geth it will be over.

She tapped her com. "Captain, what's your status?"

"We're moving but it seems the geth have placed several sentries along the passage. Nothing we can't handle... wait," Gallardi suddenly went silent. "Did anyone hear that? I thought I... Ugh!"

"Gallardi what's going on? Somebody report!" Victoria said over the radio.

Garrus was the one who replied this time. "There are cloaked geth hunters here, Shepard! Watch yourself there might be more close to you," there was gunfire and other sounds of a struggle in the background.

Shepard turned to her team. "Watch it people there might be cloaked geth units around."

"Oh, I know they are here," Jack said with a smirk. She used her biotics and lifted something not far away from the team's position. Victoria saw several flashes in the air as the hunters' stealth fields failed, revealing two geth platforms helplessly suspended above the ground. "Those tin cans think they are so clever."

Not wasting another moment, Victoria used her own biotics to at the floating hunters. Hers and Jack's combined biotics detonated sending the broken synthetics flying at high speed. Shepard turned her to look at Jack and nodded briefly. The woman just shrugged and sent another shockwave into the group of geth. The shockwave did little harm to the geth but forced them briefly out of their cover thus making them vulnerable Grunt's and Jacob's fire. A couple of geth shock troopers tried to assault the team's position but Victoria used an overload on them along with Kasumi and Mordin. The three combined pulses were enough to disable the shock troopers immediately.

As the firefight continued Victoria used her com to check the status of another team.

"Team two, this is Shepard. What is your status?"

"Gallardi here. We've cleared the ambush and are continuing towards our objective," Gallardi replied shortly.

"Miranda here. Shepard I'd like to contradict," the woman joined their conversation over the com. "We indeed cleared the ambush but the Captain was wounded and he refuses to be examined."

"Commander, I'm fine and perfectly fit to continue the operation," Gallardi argued.

"Shepard, he was shot almost point blank by a geth hunter!" Miranda persisted. "Good thing his barrier held the brunt of the shot..."

"And my arm soaked up the rest," Gallardi said. "My lower left arm. The one that is mechanical."

There was a slight pause before Miranda replied. "Oh... right."

"We'll discuss the state of Captain's health once we clear this group of geth," Victoria finally managed to squeeze in between her two arguing officers. "Gallardi, we're waiting for your signal, over."

"Copy that Shepard, give us a minute," Gallardi replied.

True to Gallardi's words in less than a minute the second team opened fire on the geth's flank. The stormtrooper and Zaeed lobbed several grenades from the higher ground that wreaked havoc among the geth ranks. Coupled with Garrus' sniper fire and Miranda's biotics the flank attack caused significant get casualties. The synthetics tried to regroup to repel the second team but it left them vulnerable to the assault of Victoria's team.

In a couple of minutes the geth unit was wiped out and the teams reunited with each other. Victoria approached Gallardi to find out the real state of his injuries.

"Captain, nice work with the flanking attack," Shepard said and looked at his left arm. "Are you sure you're going to be alright with that?"

Gallardi looked at his arm. The vambrace was heavily damaged and Victoria could see part of gleaming cybernetic arm underneath it, which also had several holes in it.

"Good thing it didn't hit the auspex screen," Gallardi mused as he tapped at the small screen that was fixed on the outer side of his vambrace. "And the augmetic itself works perfectly although I'll need to have it checked once we are back on the Normandy. Other than that I'm good to go."

"Excellent," Victoria nodded and turned to the rest of the team. "Alright people, let's push forward."

They pushed further down the path that led to the observatory. As they were getting closer to their objective, Victoria heard a light humming sound she was very familiar with.

"Watch out! Incoming geth drones!" Shepard shouted a warning to the rest of the team.

True to her warning, a swarm of small drones arrived at the next moment and immediately opened fire. The team managed to take cover and started firing back, picking out the agile drones one by one.

"Is there some reason for this type of assault?" Gallardi asked as he easily shot down the drones. "It seems like a wasteful tactic."

"It isn't. The drones simply force us to bunker down, allowing geth heavy hitters to get closer," Jacob replied and pointed ahead. "Someone like that son of a bitch."

Victoria looked at the direction Jacob pointed and groaned as she the advancing geth prime. "Oh great. Concentrate on that thing. We take it out and the rest will become less organized."

Several guns started hammering at the big geth. Kasumi and Miranda overloaded its shields and Shepard sent a warp blast to soften the prime's heavy armor. Just as they were about to finish it off heavy fire from the left flank forced them back into cover.

"Spirits damn it! Another prime to our left!" Victoria heard Garrus curse.

Shepard placed her assault rifle on her back and switched to her rocket launcher. "I guess we now know why Maeteris advised us to take heavy weapons."

She looked out of her cover aimed and quickly sent two missiles towards the already damaged prime. The missiles hit it square in the chest and the big geth exploded.

Victoria grinned. "One down, one more to..."

"I... AM... KROGAN!" Grunt interrupted Shepard with a bellowing war cry. Victoria turned to see what that was all about and her blood run cold as she saw the young krogan recklessly charging through the open ground towards the second prime. The drones all targeted Grunt and started firing at him from several directions. Grunt's shields were quickly overwhelmed and the bullets started ringing on the krogan's armor. While most of them simply ricocheted from the heavy armor, some struck home, usually between the joints where the hardsuit was most vulnerable.

However the bullets didn't seem to bother Grunt one bit, they didn't slow him down. Before the prime managed to turn and open fire on the new threat, Grunt collided with it with a force of a small tank, bringing the geth down immediately. But instead of using his enormous shotgun to shoot the prime point blank, Grunt dropped the gun and reached to his back. There, magnetically clamped to the krogan's back, was the same sledgehammer Grunt used on Horizon. Grunt yanked the sledgehammer and made an overhead swing at the prostrated prime. A human in Grunt's place would've done little damage against the metal body but Grunt was a pureblood krogan. The sledgehammer's landed on the prime's 'head' with such a force that the head literally ceased to exist.

Such a wound would have killed any living being but the geth were not exactly living creatures. Their main processors were located in their chest so that even if they lost their 'heads', which only destroyed their primary visual sensors, the geth still remained active. Not that it discouraged Grunt in any way, quite the contrary actually. The krogan started mauling the geth chest with even greater enthusiasm.

It was then that Victoria noticed that Grunt was still fired upon by the drones. She dropped her missile launcher, grabbed her Phalanx and started firing at the drones as fast as she could. Shepard was immediately joined by the rest of the team who were also a bit mesmerized by the Grunt's stunt. The drones started dropping down like flies and pretty soon the fire fight was over with Grunt standing triumphantly over the mangled corpse of the prime.

"Ha! Weak!" Grunt shouted and jumped on the prime's remains to stomp them a couple of times.

"Well, that's one way to take down a prime," Garrus chuckled.

Victoria on the other hand was not amused, not by a long shot. What Grunt did was way too dangerous and completely unnecessary. On Horizon she didn't reprimand him when the young krogan charged in melee after Maeteris. Shepard thought that Grunt was simply carried away and she let it slide for the first time. However today he did it on purpose and Victoria knew that she had to talk him down before he gets himself killed.

"Secure the perimeter," Victoria ordered as she picked up her missile launcher and started walking towards Grunt. As she approached she saw that he was bleeding from several wounds although most of them already started to heal.

"Grunt!" Shepard raised her voice. "Care to explain just what the hell was all this about?"

Grunt turned to stare at her and paused before replying, as if he had trouble focusing on her. "Shepard? I've killed the prime!"

"Yes, I can see that," Victoria said sternly. "But why did you have to charge like that? You have guns, remember? Very powerful guns. Why didn't you use them?"

Grunt looked at the remains of the prime and then back at Shepard. "Does it matter how they die?"

"It does when you could get killed in the process," Shepard told him and deliberately poked at some of Grunt's wounds.

Grunt snorted. "These pathetic insect bites? They will heal and probably would not even leave scars."

"That is because you're lucky there were only drones around and something more dangerous," Victoria raised her voice a bit. "What if there was another prime around one of those columns?"

"I would have crushed..." Grunt began but was quickly interrupted by Shepard.

"No, Grunt, you wouldn't have crushed it like you did this one. With this one you had the element of surprise but such things only work for a short time," Victoria said. "What would have actually happened is this - you would have been wounded and then someone would have had to risk their own life by carrying you back to the shuttle. Because we're a team. Because we do not leave each other behind. Because some of us like to believe that we didn't waste our time to pick you up from that giant scrap heap on Korlus so that you could die in some random firefight like some pathetic merc from the bowels of Omega."

Upon hearing the insult Grunt growled at Shepard menacingly but Victoria didn't back away. In fact she even leaned a bit closer and glared at the krogan with a challenge in her eyes.

"Do not fool yourself that you scare me even for a second, Grunt," Shepard told him and made her biotics flare a bit, creating a purple corona around her body. "I fought against two krogan battlemasters. Both of them had centuries of combat experience, something you seem to lack completely. Now both of them are dead. If you think for one second that you can challenge me, think again."

They stared at each other for some time before Grunt finally huffed and backed away. "What do you want from me, Shepard?"

"I want you to work as a part of a team," Victoria told him. "I want you to fight with all your strength but also keep a cool head like you did on Zoria. And most of the Horizon ission minus the last charge. Just what the hell is wrong with you today?"

Grunt scratched some of his wounds and looked away. "I don't know. I saw that geth and I just felt this overwhelming urge to rip it apart with my bare hands. To prove my strength."

"Get it under control then. We can't work as an effective unit with you running around like a raging berserker," Victoria said and crossed her arms. "Look Grunt, I'm not keeping you here against your will. You want to leave? Fine! Hell, you can even stay here and continue hammering the geth to oblivion. But of course you wouldn't be able to come with us to the Collectors' homeworld..."

That got Grunt's attention immediately. "No! They're worthy opponents. I want to fight them."

"Then promise me to control yourself and to follow my orders," Shepard stated. "These are my conditions."

"I accept," Grunt said determinately. He placed his hammer to his back and took out his assault rifle. "Tell me who you want me to kill, I'm ready."

"Good," Victoria nodded. "Take point Grunt."

The young krogan nodded back eagerly and started walking down the path that led to the observatory. He managed to make several steps before Shepard called him out.

"Grunt! Did you forget something?" Victoria asked and pointed at Grunt's Claymore that was still lying on the ground.

"Oh, right," Grunt said and rushed to pick up his shotgun.

Victoria sighed. She disliked having to bully people in order to make them follow her but some people simply did not understand other languages. Most of those people were krogan.

"Shepard, I suggest we expedite to our objective," Gallardi told Victoria over the com. "The sun is rising."

"Right, thanks Captain," Shepard replied and switched to general com channel. "Let's move, team. Double time."

They continued their advance towards the observatory and the quarians base camp. For some time they proceeded without encountering any resistance but soon team stumbled upon a tunnel and Victoria could clearly distinguish the sounds of fire fight inside.

"Looks like the quarians are still fighting," Garrus commented.

"Yeah, let's proceed carefully," Victoria said. "Don't want to startle them into thinking that they're being attacked from another side."

"I can tap into their communications if you want," Kasumi proposed.

"Great, do it," Victoria replied. She waited for the thief to do her magic and when Kasumi nodded that she was done, Shepard started to receive the influx of the quarian com traffic.

"Third team this Kal'Reegar. What is your status? Over," a steady and gruff male voice asked over the com, most likely the quarians' commanding officer.

"This is third team," another quarian replied, although this one was clearly shaken. "We're pinned down by heavy fire. Cannot break through to the base camp. Private Zaya'Tarade and Corporal Vask'Deter are both KIA. Morit'Saymer, one of the scientists, was also killed. Engineer Lana'Ree is alive but is in no condition to fight. We need immediate assistance! Over."

"Received, team three," the same 'Kal'Reegar' responded. "Team two, I need you to break from your position and relieve team three."

But sir, there are only three of us and there are dozens of those bosh'tets!" the third voice replied, clearly terrified. "We'll get slaughtered!"

"Not the type of response I was waiting for, Corporal," Kal'Reegar said sternly. Victoria already started to like this guy. "You're marines, for Ancestors sake! Get your balls out of your boots and get it done or I'll come up there personally and I'll whoop your..."

Shepard chose that moment to interfere. "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy SR-2 to all quarian forces of Haestrom. My team is on the planet and we're roughly three hundred meters northeast of your base camp. We wish to provide assistance against the geth. Over."

There was a lengthy pause on the quarian side before they started chattering anxiously.

"Humans? Here? But how? We're in the middle of the geth space!" the leader of the third team asked.

"This is clearly some kind of geth trick!" the leader of the second team, who now sounded almost hysterical, blubbered over the radio channel. "They're trying to sneak up on us!"

"Com discipline!" Kal'Reegar barked before addressing Shepard. "Commander Shepard, if it's really you I'll need some clarification on your identity. Over."

Victoria paused for a moment before replying. "Couple of weeks ago I was on the human colony named Freedom Progress. There I've met Tali'Zorah vas Neema with a team of quarian marines who were on the mission to find Veetor'Nara, a quarian on Pilgrimage. We've joined forces and successfully extracted Veetor. However, quarian team sustained heavy losses because the quarian marines' team leader named Praza blindly rushed his team ahead and ran into a heavy mech."

"If you ask me, that half-wit bosh'tet Praza should've never been made a marine, let alone a team leader," Kal'Reegar said angrily. "I would ask how you got here but I have more pressing matters right now. One my team is pinned down by the geth and if I'm reading your position right you should not too far away from them. Can you clarify? Over."

"We're currently standing near some kind of tunnel," Victoria clarified her position. "I can hear gunfire inside. Over."

"That's it! Team three is entrenched on the other side of the tunnel," Kal'Reegar said. "Commander, please help them before they are overrun! How copy? Over."

"Solid copy, Lieutenant. Signal the team that help is coming so that we don't get a friendly fire incident. Over," Shepard replied.

"Did you get that, team three? Help is on the way, hang in there," Kal'Reegar told his subordinate.

'Roger that sir. We'll... Keelah! More geth are coming! Situation is critical!" the third team's leader shouted frantically.

"Move in! Double time!" Victoria ordered and rushed into the tunnel, silently praying that they wouldn't be too late.

They were not but the situation was indeed dire. The geth were almost on top of the quarian defenses. The two remaining quarian marines were using their weapons to fire blindly out of their cover, not daring to lean out to take aim because of the amount of firepower the geth poured on their position.

"Push them back!" Shepard ordered and opened fire. Her team quickly followed the suit. The geth were caught completely by surprise and in a moment the corridor was littered with the remains of the geth soldiers.

One of the quarians approached Victoria carefully. "I take it you're Commander Shepard? Lance Corporal Joar'Vael, Migrant Fleet Marines. Thank you for the help, we owe you our lives."

"Don't mention it," Shepard said. She noticed the bodies of three dead quarians. "Sorry about your people."

"Thank you. Us marines... We knew what the stakes were. But the scientists..." Joar'Vael said and looked at the corpses. He started frantically looking for something. "Wait, where is Lana?"

Victoria remembered scarcely that Lana'Ree was the name of the engineer Joar'Vael mentioned over the radio. She also started looking around and soon she spotted a quarian helmet peaking from behind a boulder.

"Over there!" Shepard pointed to where Lana was hiding. Joar rushed to her and Victoria followed him. She saw that the female quarian was alive but now Shepard understood why Joar said earlier over the radio that the engineer was in no condition to fight. Lana was sitting on the floor and her trembling hands were fiddling with a Tempest submachine gun, desperately but unsuccessfully trying to eject a used thermal clip. Victoria saw this before many times on Elysium - civilians who were never trained for combat but were forced to fight for their lives because of the circumstances.

"Lana. Lana it's me, Joar," the Lance Corporal said gently as he lowered himself to the scared woman's level. He took her gun and gently pried it out of her arms. "Is everything alright? Are you hurt?"

Lana raised her head and looked at him. "Joar. The fighting stopped. Are we dead?"

"No, no, we are alive and the geth were pushed back for now. Commander Shepard is on Haestrom and she helped us," Joar told her. "You remember what told you about Shepard?"

"Yes. She and Tali'Zorah killed many geth," Lana replied weakly. Victoria couldn't see her face but she knew that the young quarian was crying. "But I'm not Tali'Zorah. Why everyone thinks that because I know a thing or two about the geth it means that I like shooting at them? I'm not brave like Tali!"

"That is not true Lana and you know it," Joar told her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're very brave and you helped us greatly. If you haven't hacked those geth today we would've been dead by now."

"I know. But I don't want to fight," Lana complained almost childishly. "I just want to go home."

"And we will get home," Joar reassured her. "Soon, I promise you."

Lana looked up at him. "Honestly?"

"Of course Lana. I'm your friend, why would I lie to you?" Joar replied. "We will get through this, trust me."

Lana didn't reply but simply leaned forward and hugged him tightly. The marine was at first surprised by this but then he gently returned the embrace.

"Someone is going to get lucky tonight," Victoria heard Jack whisper beside her. Shepard turned and glared at Jack to which the young biotic simply rolled her eyes and walked away.

Victoria also noticed that Gallardi was also studying the quarian couple, although she could not read his expression behind the faceplate. The man continued looking at the quarians for a few moments before shaking his head and turning away.

Shepard returned her gaze to the quarians and saw that Joar helped Lana to stand up. He gave her back her weapon and showed how to correctly eject the heat sink. Lana nodded and carefully took the weapon. Them the marine returned back to Victoria.

"Sorry for the delay, Commander," Joar said apologetically.

"It's nothing. I take it our next step is to break through to the base camp?" Victoria asked as they started to move towards the tunnel's exit.

"Yes ma'am. It would have been a suicide to do it with just a three of us but with your help I'm sure we will succeed."

"Then let's make it happen, Lance Corporal," Victoria said. "Contact the second team, tell them that we're coming and ask them to provide support."

"Yes ma'am," Joar replied and activated his com. "Team two, this is team three. We've consolidated our forces with Commander Shepard and her team. We will attempt to break through to your location. Provide support. Over."

"Ah, y-yes we copy you, team three. We will provide support on your signal," the nervous leader of the second team replied.

Joar nodded and Victoria carefully approached the tunnel's exit. Gallardi was right beside her. They both looked out of the tunnel to access the situation and immediately ducked back as the geth opened fire on them.

"I saw the quarians' positions. A little over a hundred meters from here," Gallardi noted.

"Yes, I saw them too. And the geth are all over the place," Victoria said. "A hundred meters walk on a devil's frying pan."

"Just another busy day in the office then," Garrus remarked behind them as he reloaded his sniper rifle.

"We should let Grunt lead the charge," Gallardi advised.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Shepard said sarcastically. "I've just managed to get him under control and you want me to encourage him to once again act as a crazed berserker?"

Gallardi shrugged. "I might not have been here long but I think that krogan excel at this type of combat. And now we actually know that he will charge, therefore we can support him adequately."

"I can control myself, Shepard!" Grunt shouted.

Victoria sighed and reluctantly agreed. "Fine. Grunt, get over here."

The krogan eagerly approached Shepard. Victoria could see that he practically gleamed with excitement.

"Now Grunt, remember our agreement - If you lose yourself again, you're off the ship," Shepard reminded him.

"I know," Grunt replied and grinned.

"I'm going to regret this," Victoria muttered. "Jacob! Give him your grenade launcher."

Jacob approached and passed the heavy weapon to Grunt. "Are you sure about this Shepard?"

"Honestly? No," Victoria replied and looked at Grunt, who was now almost radiant as he cradled the grenade launcher. "Alright Grunt, you know what to do. Just try not to get killed."

The krogan nodded eagerly and approached the tunnel's exit.

"Alright people, staggered column formation, fire and advance," Victoria ordered. She waited for her team to prepare before giving her next order. "Go!"

With a thunderous roar Grunt charged out of the tunnel the, the rest of the team hot on his heels. The geth immediately opened fire but were soon either blasted away by Grunt's barrage or forced to take cover. Victoria noticed that the quarians' second team also opened fire on the geth, prompting the synthetics to redirect some of their attention away from Shepard's team.

To Victoria's relief, the plan to let Grunt take charge worked pretty well. They managed to cross the open ground in a single charge and it took them less than a minute to reach the entrance to the quarian's base. The quarians opened the doors that led into the base and the group rushed inside. Victoria looked around to see if anyone lagged behind and saw that only she Grunt, Zaeed and Gallardi were the ones left outside to provide cover for the rest. She was about to order everyone to retreat when her com crackled.

"Commander! Watch your ass, you've got a geth dropship incoming to your position!" Kal'Reegar warned Shepard.

"Everyone inside! Now!" Victoria shouted to her team.

Gallardi looked back at her and then reached for his grenade pouch. He pulled out a couple of grenades and then shouted to Zaeed. "Massani! Grenade them!"

The merc nodded and pulled out his inferno grenades. They both lobbed the grenades into the group of the advancing geth, destroying several in the process and throwing back the rest.

"Fall back!" Gallardi shouted but his voice drowned in the noise of the approaching dropship's engines.

Zaeed and Gallardi retreated in an orderly fashion. Grunt lagged behind because he was looking up at the dropship, most likely pondering if he could take it down with his grenade launcher. He looked at Victoria with slightly hopeful expression but upon seeing her stern look the young krogan immediately rushed inside the base.

"Close the door!" Shepard shouted. The old sliding doors began to close and were about to connect with each other when the dropship fired its main guns.

The partially closed doors managed to hold the majority of the blast but the remaining shockwave still threw several people off their feet and stirred up a huge dust cloud.

"Status report!" Victoria shouted as she picked herself up. Everyone signed off prompting Shepard to sigh with relief that no one was seriously injured. She carefully approached the mangled doors and saw through the gap that the door was now barred from the other side by several boulders and a fallen column.

"Well, no one is coming through here any time soon," Gallardi remarked behind her back.

"With luck we would not need to," Joar said. "Our ship is on the other side. Hope the geth didn't destroy it."

"Even if they did you should not worry," Victoria reassured him. "We have more than enough places on our ship."

Joar simply nodded gratefully.

"Commander Shepard, what is your status? Over," Kal'Reegar queried over the com.

"We're in the base camp with both of your teams," Victoria replied. "There were no further casualties. Over."

"Copy that, Commander. I owe you big time for this," Kal'Reegar said, clearly relieved to hear some good news. "Now we only need to extract Tali'Zorah and we can call it a day."

"Do you know what her status is," Shepard asked him. "Is she safe? Over."

"She is, for the moment, and she will stay safe if I have anything to say about it," Kal'Reegar stated determinately. "She is holed up inside the observatory. The geth are trying to hack their way in but so far she managed to hold fend them off. Over."

"What is the size of the geth force between us and Tali'Zorah? Over," Victoria queried.

"The various troopers are near platoon strength but it's the Colossus that keeps giving me trouble, over," Kal'Reegar said plainly.

Shepard paused for a moment. "Can you repeat the last part; I think I heard you saying something about a geth Colossus. Over."

"That I did, Commander. This bosh'tet is heavily entrenched and I can really use your help down here, Shepard. Over," the marine replied.

"Affirmative Reegar. We'll be there ASAP. Shepard out," Victoria said and cut the link. She sighed heavily "Great, a Colossus."

"Son of a bitch," Zaeed groaned.

"Now we really know what Maeteris meant when she warned us to bring the heavy weapons," Garrus added.

"Is this Colossus going to be a problem?" Gallardi asked them.

"It's a seven meter tall quadruped geth walker, heavily armored and armed with a tank grade cannon and a heavy machine gun," Jacob replied. "Mean bastards."

"That's why I follow you, Shepard!" Grunt shouted jovially. "Big things!"

"How did you deal with them before?" Gallardi questioned further.

"Oh, it was very easy," Victoria replied with a wave of a hand. "We used a tank."

"Ah, I see."

Shepard was about to order the team to move out when she noticed that one of the terminals inside the base activated with a chime. An image of a female quarian appeared and the familiar voice filled the room.

"Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in, base camp."

Victoria's first impulse was to approach the terminal and respond but then she remembered that this is still a quarian base. She knew she should be courteous enough to allow them to handle their communications. Shepard looked at Joar'Vael who instead turned to look at the leader of the second team, who was currently the senior quarian marine present in the building.

"Just go and answer it already, Vael," the nervous Corporal said with a wave of the hand.

"Yes sir," Joar replied and approached the terminal.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Tali desperately asked for response one more time.

Joar activated the terminal and started to talk. "This is Lance Corporal Joar'Vael speaking. We read you loud and clear."

"Joar'Vael? Oh, thank the Ancestors you're alive," Tali said, clearly relieved to hear another voice. "How many of you are there?"

"Five marines including me plus engineer Lana'Ree are inside the base," Joar replied. "Lieutenant Kal'Reegar is also alive and is trying to fight his way to you."

"So few..." Tali's shoulders sagged. "Damn it."

"There is also someone here I think you would be glad to see," Joar said and motioned for Victoria to approach the terminal.

Shepard nodded her thanks and walked towards the terminal. "Hey Tali, good to see you again."

Even through the hologram Victoria noticed how Tali's shimmering eyes widen. "Shepard? How did you... We're in geth space! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know me. I like to travel and explore different cultures," Victoria smirked. "When I heard that on Haestrom you can see real quarian architecture I knew I had to visit this place."

Tali crossed her arms. "And the fact that it's a geth stronghold didn't bother you?"

"I like extreme traveling tours," Shepard replied. "Besides, lots of geth have never stopped me before."

Tali chuckled. "It's good to see you again, Shepard."

"How are you holding up, Tali?" Victoria asked seriously.

"I'm safe for now," the young quarian replied. "The geth are trying to hack their way in and I've managed to hold them off for now although I'm not sure if I can keep this up for long. I'm already starting to make mistakes and it's only a matter of time before the geth break in."

"Don't worry Tali, we'll get you out of there soon," Shepard promised. "Just hold on for a little bit longer."

"Thank you, Shepard. And please, do what you can to keep Kal'Reegar safe," Tali asked her. "He was tasked by my father to keep look after me and Kal'Reegar always follows his orders. I'm afraid that he might do something... reckless."

As Victoria listened to Tali she noticed that the quarian started to wring her hands like she always did when she was either nervous or extremely worried about something. Or someone. "_Looks like Tali has grown up a bit while I was away. She started noticing men around her!" _the girlish part of Victoria squealed inside her.

"I'll make sure he's safe," Shepard assured Tali. "You have my word."

"Thank you, Shepard. Good luck," Tali said and ended the transmission.

Victoria turned to her team. "This is it people, one more push and we're done here. Let's move."

The team started to gather and Shepard noticed that both Joar'Vael and his subordinate, a female Private, also got up and went towards the exit. Victoria went to stop them.

"I appreciate your eagerness Lance Corporal but we'll take it from here," Victoria told the marines. "You've done more than enough today."

The two quarians looked at each other before Joar replied. "With all due respect, ma'am, that is not your call to make. Besides, when else we'll get a chance to fight alongside the famous Spectre?"

"Fine," Shepard sighed. She knew that by arguing now she would only waste precious time. Victoria turned to the female marine and asked. "What's your name, Private?"

"Oh! Um, Private Dare'Koris vas... Quib Quib. Ma'am," the woman replied. "Please don't ask about the ship."

Victoria smiled. "I'm sure she is a fine vessel, Private Koris," she looked at the other team but it seemed that other marines were rather content with staying out of this fight. "Alright people, let's go."

They exited the base through another exit and Victoria immediately noticed that it was considerably brighter than before.

"Bosh'tet, the sun is up," Joar'Vael noted. "Beware of the radiation; it will cause your shields to overload."

They entered an observation room that had two large windows with their shutters raised. Through the windows Victoria saw a small valley that led to the observatory and there she spotted the all too familiar outline of the geth Colossus.

It appeared that the Colossus also spotted Shepard and her team because the huge thing prepared to fire its main weapon.

"Oh shit..." Jack cursed beside Victoria.

"Hit the dirt!" Shepard ordered and dropped herself on the floor.

The cannon round flew through the open window and hit the opposite wall, showering the team with pieces of stone.

"Definitely like old times," Garrus remarked as he got up.

"Geth walker partially hidden behind the natural cover. Could be problematic," Mordin added.

Victoria quickly got up and rushed to the open the door that led outside of the room and into the valley. The team followed her. The used the stairs to descend to another level where they finally exited the complex.

Shepard immediately spotted a red-suited quarian with a missile launcher, who was using one of the boulders for cover.

"In here! Get to cover!" Kal'Reegar shouted to them.

The team did as he advised and Victoria herself crouched beside Kal'Reegar.

"I take it you're Commander Shepard. Lieutenant Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines," the quarian officer greeted her. "It's an honor to finally meet ma'am, although I'd wished it happened under better circumstances."

"The honor is mine, Lieutenant," Victoria replied. "What is your status? Any injuries?"

"I've got a suit puncture. The Colossus has a repair protocol, when it gets damaged it just bunkers down and repairs itself," Kal'Reegar said. "I couldn't get a clear shot at it; hence I tried to move closer. That was when one those bosh'tets got me."

"How bad is the puncture?" Victoria asked.

"I'm fine. I've applied some medigel and I'm swimming in antibiotics," Kal'Reegar replied. "I'm not about to give the geth the satisfaction of me dying from an infection in a middle of a fight; that would just be embarrassing!"

"Do you have a plan to deal with the Colossus?" Victoria asked as she looked out of her cover to briefly scan the valley's layout.

"Now that your men are here we pull this off," the marine replied. "Your team can flank the Colossus while I attract its attention. I might even be able to bring its shields down so you could finish it off."

"Sounds good to me but with one exception: you will stay out of this, Lieutenant," Shepard told him sternly. "You've done enough."

"I don't remember asking for your permission, Commander. My orders are to keep Tali'Zorah safe!" Kal'Reegar said defiantly and rose out of his cover to fire his missile launcher.

Victoria immediately grabbed him by the belt and pulled him down back into cover. And not a moment too soon because a split-second later several rounds pierced the air where Kal'Reegar just stood.

"Enough good men and women died today," Shepard hissed as she forced the quarian to stay in cover. "There's no need for you to join them."

"That thing took out half of my squad!" Kal'Reegar said. "I'm not going to sit idly while you charge into enemy fire!"

"The other half of your squad still needs you. The Migrant fleet will also need a man like you to lead its marines," Victoria told him. "You have done enough, Reegar. Now live to fight another day."

Kal'Reegar was silent for a moment before he finally relaxed. "Alright Shepard, you win. Now stop wasting time and go save Tali."

"That's better, Reegar," Victoria said and released him. "Now, let's see what they are up to."

Shepard once again peeked out of her cover to look at the valley. There were two possible routes her team could take in order to approach the Colossus more or less safely. One of those routes left them exposed to the sun's radiation and another one was swarming with geth troopers. The one only upside was that because of the radiation most of the geth troopers had their shields disabled.

The Colossus however was standing in the shade; therefore its shields were always at top strength. Victoria looked up at the huge overhang that provided the shade for the Colossus and it was then that her sense of structural weaknesses started to tingle. Shepard grinned as a plan formed in her mind.

"Say Lieutenant, this observatory is not some kind of engineering wonder or a quarian sacred place by any chance?" Victoria asked as she once again switched to her missile launcher.

Kal'Reegar tilted his head as he pondered her strange question. "I don't think so, it's just an observatory. Why?"

"Good, because if that is the case nobody would terribly mind if I do this," Victoria replied and rose to fire her weapon.

She targeted the overhang supports and let loose four missiles, one for each of the supports. She dived back into cover as geth opened fire on her position.

"Shepard, is there a reason that you deliberately missed the Colossus four times in a row?" Miranda asked, clearly perplexed by Victoria's actions.

"There is, Lawson. Wait for it," Victoria replied cheerfully.

"Wait for what?" Miranda asked but as soon she finished her question, a loud sound of screeching metal announced that Victoria's plan was a success.

Shepard leaned out of her cover just in time to see as the damaged supports gave in and giant, multi-ton overhang fell down on the Colossus, effective pinning it to the ground.

"That's going to leave a mark!" Shepard shouted.

"Look, the troopers have stopped!" Gallardi noted.

"The Colossus is no longer controlling them," Kal'Reegar explained. "They need time to reestablish a new neural network."

"Then let's not give them the time! Up and at them!" Gallardi shouted and vaulted over his cover.

"Team, advance!" Shepard ordered and the team surged forward to engage the remaining geth. They geth offered some resistance but without a Colossus to effectively coordinate them they didn't last very long.

In a matter of minutes the way to the observatory was clear of the geth troopers.

"Looks like we got them all," Garrus observed.

There was a rumbling sound from where the Colossus was pinned by the overhang.

"Nope, seems like the Colossus is still kicking," Victoria noted.

"Not for long," Kal'Reegar stated grimly as he started to limp towards pinned down Colossus.

The team followed him and finally spotted the damaged walker. It noticed them too, turned its head toward the team and let out a characteristic digital screech of the geth. Kal'Reegar simply aimed his missile launcher and fired three missiles. It's seems that the walker's shield generator was damaged because all three missiles had hit the Colossus directly, causing it to explode.

"That's for my men, you bosh'tet pile of junk," Kal'Reegar muttered.

"All right, let's go get Tali and get out of here," Victoria announced and went towards the entrance to the observatory.

"Tali, the geth are gone. You can come out now," Shepard announced over the radio.

"Shepard, I heard a real racket out there. Is everything all right?" Tali asked.

"Um, we had to do some redecorating," Victoria joked. "Come out and see for yourself."

The doors unlocked and Tali appeared in the doorway. She looked at the fallen overhang, then she looked up and then looked at Victoria.

"I thought you said you wanted to see quarian architecture, not to destroy it," Tali said.

"Meh, no offense Tali but I think quarian architecture is overrated," Victoria joked as she approached her friend.

"Very funny," Tali replied sarcastically, although it was clear that she was smiling. "Thanks for saving me once again, Shepard."

"You know Tali, it'll soon become a tradition where you get into trouble and we have to rush to save you," Garrus said as he also approached them.

"Garrus! You're also here? It's been, what, almost a year since we last talked?" Tali said, clearly surprised to see him. "What have been doing all this time?"

"Oh, you know a bit of this and a bit of that," Garrus replied with a shrug. "Glad to see you're alright Tali."

"And I'm glad to see you..." Tali said before she spotted something behind Victoria's back. "Reegar! You're alive!"

She pushed herself between Victoria and Garrus and quickly approached the wounded marine. She stopped awkwardly and for moment Shepard had a feeling that Tali wanted to hug Kal'Reegar. Instead she started her usual hand wringing.

"You're wounded! Can I help? I've got medigel and..." Tali asked him rapidly until Kal'Reegar raised his hand to forestall her blabbering.

"I'm fine ma'am. All I need now is to get to our ship's med bay. I must say ma'am, your old captain is as good as you said. The dammed Colossus never knew what hit it."

"Yes, she's like that," Tali agreed.

"What about you, ma'am," Kal'Reegar asked her in return. "Were you able to recover the data?"

"Yes, I did. But it proved that our mission was pointless," Tali said ruefully. "Something is destabilizing the Haestrom's sun but the geth have nothing to do with it."

Both Victoria and Garrus approached the pair. "If it's not such a big secret, can you tell us what was your mission here?" Victoria asked them.

"As you know, Haestrom's sun is dying, far too rapidly then it normally should," Tali began. "We also noticed that there was an increase of the geth traffic in and out of the system. The Admiralty board though that the geth might have something to do with the sun. That's why they sent us."

"When we arrived in the system, our scans showed that this was largely a mining operation with several security patrols," Reegar continued. "We thought that maybe use the mining as a cover up and there was something hidden on the planet's surface. Guess we were wrong."

"It will take some time to fully analyze the data but I'm fairly certain that it will only confirm that the geth had nothing to do with the sun," Tali said with a sigh. "They are just mining the planet and shipping the resources out of the system. Which explains the increase in traffic."

"But do you know why they're mining for so many resources?" Garrus asked. "Are they building a fleet?"

"Maybe. To be certain one has to travel deeper into the geth space," Tali replied. "And it's far too dangerous."

"Well, at least we have something to report to the admirals," Kal'Reegar shrugged.

Tali turned to him. "Yes Kal'Reegar, about the Admiralty Board. You will be the one who'll make that report. I'm leaving with Commander Shepard, her mission is far more important than whatever the Admirals might have in store for me."

The marine nodded. "Very well ma'am. I'll pass the data to the admirals," he then turned to look at Victoria. "She is all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe."

"I will," Victoria promised. "What's the status of your ship? Do you need any help?"

"No, the geth didn't damage our ship," Kal'Reegar replied. "We'll leave as soon as possible."

"Well then, good luck," Victoria said and turned to Tali. "Ready to go Tali?"

"Um, you go right ahead. I'll catch up with you," Tali replied a bit shyly.

Shepard fought hard to contain her smile. "Fair enough."

She and Garrus immediately turned and left. Victoria used her com to tell Miranda to summon the shuttle. Once Victoria and Garrus reached a respectful distance they both stopped and turned around to look at Tali and Kal'Reegar.

"Do you see what I see," Victoria asked her turian friend.

"That I do," Garrus smirked. "Our little pilgrim has grown up. And she found herself something that is more interesting than a drive core or a ship engine."

"Yep," Victoria agreed. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He'd better be," Garrus stated. "Or else we will hunt him down. Right, Shepard?"

"That we will," Victoria said with a grin. "And our wrath shall be terrible."

They both shared a brief laugh.

Shepard saw as both Tali and Kal bowed slightly to each other and finally parted ways. She noticed that Tali was walking with a slight spring to her step.

"I'm ready to go, Shepard," Tali said as she approached them. "So, we're once again saving the Galaxy together. Just like two years ago."

Victoria chuckled but then she turned around to look at Gallardi, who was currently standing in the distance and conversing with Jacob.

"I wish it was that simple like it was two years ago, Tali," Shepard said with a smile. "But it turns out that our Universe is not that simple as we thought it was."

Tali tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Garrus chuckled. "Oh, it's a rather long story. But I think you're going to love it."

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><p><em>AN: My beta told me that I should expect a shitstorm because of something I did in this chapter. Well, it's a free Internet. You can leave whatever comments you wish._


	14. Politicians and Machines

_Author's note: I'm really sorry about this hold up. I could've done this chapter somewhere in the middle of July. Should have done but at some point I became extremely lazy, not just at writing but at doing everything else. I really don't know why, maybe it's because of the heat. Therefore, my esteemed readers, you have every right to be angry with me. I deserve it.**  
><strong>_

_I've managed to shape up already and return to my original 1k words per day rate and I fully intend to keep up with it.  
><em>

_Now, the usual responses to anonymous (guest reviews):  
><em>

_Teh Emprah: Shepard uses her team members' strongest points. And while Garrus is a good squad leader, his two year merc war cannot compare with Gallardi's 319 combat deployments.  
><em>

_Gitsmasha: The eldar long lifespan is attributed to their psychic abilities. Therefore they have both high metabolism and a long lifespan.  
><em>

_Anon stew: Yes, the original idea of the songs adaptation belongs to Sandy Mitchel, although he only wrote two verses. I've simply taken the adaptation a bit further.  
><em>

_Ardanwen: Tank you, my condolences to you as well. And you have a rather interesting views about Gallardi and Maeteris. :)  
><em>

_Angry Marine guest: Always ANGRY! ALL THE TIME! :(  
><em>

_Force commander Vin: No, Maeteris doesn't have those type of wings. She used her psychic powers to propel herself up.  
><em>

_Whale: Systems Alliance Starlance class cruisers will appear closer to ME3 time line.  
><em>

_Ceg: You're correct, M'tarr is not jokaero either.  
><em>

_Jeremy Hollis: I really appreciate your comment and your defense of Gallardi but honestly there is no need to start a flame war over it. Every person views the characters differently and everyone is entitled to their opinion.  
><em>

_Everyone else: thank you for your comments!  
><em>

_And now, the story._

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><p><strong>Chapter 14: Politicians and Machines.<br>**

**Location: Serpent Nebula, Citadel, Humanity's Councilor office.  
><strong>  
>Anderson looked at the report for the hundredth time and sighed. The document was so surreal that it made the news of Commander Shepard's return from the dead look mundane in comparison. The councilor looked up at the woman who had made the report and was now standing before his desk. As always, Ashley Williams stood ramrod straight, ever the image of a perfect marine. If it was someone else other than Williams, Anderson could have had a reason to doubt the report before him but that was not the case. There were also over fifty other witnesses confirming the events on Horizon, all of them former Alliance soldiers. It meant that the damned report was real and what happened on Horizon was a fact.<p>

Still, every fiber of Anderson screamed at him that it is impossible. The Reapers he could believe but travelers from another dimension? A human soldier from a Galaxy spanning theocratic human empire? An alien, whose species are more ancient than the protheans and who also once existed in this dimension but were destroyed by the Reapers? And this 'eldar' possessed a nearly godlike powers like prediction of the future and the ability to hurl lightning bolts.

Both of these 'guests' were now part of the new Normandy's crew. It seemed that Victoria Shepard was a literal magnet for the impossible.

It didn't help that the report actually explained Shepard's strange behavior couple of days ago, when she contacted Hackett and provided him with schematics of advanced weaponry that caused quite a stir in the Alliance R&D Department. Hackett told Anderson that Shepard was very reluctant to reveal the source of the weapon schematics and Anderson could now understand why. If she told them she got those from a soldier from another dimension, Hackett would have seriously thought that Shepard went mad.

Now, Anderson was waiting for other Councilors familiarize themselves with the report as per the agreement that all intel about Shepard's actions would be shared, since she was partially reinstated as a Spectre. Of course, the other Councilors received a slightly tweaked version of the report - every mention of the advanced weapons used by Shepard's team was carefully redacted, because right now the Alliance wanted to leave such an edge for themselves. Another reason as to why Anderson hated politics. The idea to resign and let Udina dig through this bullshit looked more and more appealing to the former Alliance Captain.

The terminal on Anderson's desk pinged, telling him that his secretary was trying to contact him. "_Probably wants to tell me that the Council wishes to discuss the report,_" Anderson thought as he opened the comm. channel.

"Councilor? The other members of the Council have finished reviewing the information you've sent them and the wish to discuss it immediately," the secretary reported. "They are already connected; I can start the conference at any moment."

"Thank you, Janice. Put them through," Anderson replied, stood up from his desk and turned to look at the holographic emitters that would show him the images of the rest of the Council.

The emitters flickered and revealed the other Councilors. While it was difficult to read the expressions through the holographic image, after two years Anderson became something of an adept at reading his fellow Councilors' mood by their stance.

Sparatus was standing with his arms crossed. "_Means he doesn't believe a word from that report and probably thinks this is some kind of trick. As always."_

Valern's posture was neutral, hands linked in front of him. "_Still haven't decided what to think of the issue. Will agree with the opinion of the majority until the STG investigate it further. Typical._"

Now Tevos was actually interesting. She was still holding the datapad with the report and studying it intently. "_Most likely she is the only one among the three who takes the report seriously. She might be your ally in this."_

"Councilors. Thank you responding on such a short notice," Anderson said with a slight tilt of his head.

Tevos looked up from her datapad and spoke. "Greetings Councilor Anderson. And I welcome you Chief Williams. As I understand you've arrived directly from a battlefield. It is most fortunate that you remained unharmed."

"Ma'am," Ashley replied curtly.

"Thank you for allowing her to attend this meeting, Anderson," Tevos continued. "Her input as an eyewitness will be invaluable in this... clearly unorthodox matter."

Sparatus actually snorted. "Is that how you call it?"

"Judging by your tone you have a different opinion," Tevos asked him and Anderson was surprised to hear a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Do tell us, how would you describe this report?"

"Ridiculous," Sparatus replied with outright scorn. "No disrespect to you, Chief Williams, but this sounds more like a cheap script for some kind of B-movie. I'm no longer surprised that Commander Shepard believes in such stories but let us be rational; it's clear that she is being manipulated."

"_Same old song, one more time,_" Anderson thought with a sigh. "And of course, you know who the manipulators are."

"Isn't that obvious. It's all Cerberus!" Sparatus said. "They came with this ridiculous story to try and convince Shepard and us by extension in the existence of the Reapers. These two so-called dimensional travelers are most likely agents hired by Cerberus."

"And the fact that one of them is a member of alien species we have never encountered before doesn't bother you?" Tevos countered him.

"Please, Councilor don't tell me you really believe that she is an alien," the turian said dismissively. "Don't you find odd how ridiculously similar she looks to humans?"

"She could be simply modified human," Valern supported Sparatus. "With our current level of genetic modification and plastic surgery a human can be made to look exactly like an asari."

"But that doesn't explain the powers she possesses," Tevos contradicted.

"Are you talking about the prediction of the future? Preposterous," Sparatus said with a snort.

"Not exactly. While I'm skeptical about her divining powers, her combat abilities are astounding," Tevos replied. "The way she used lightning to destroy those Collectors is most impressive."

"I do not think it was an actual lightning," Sparatus argued. "Most likely a powerful overload pulse..."

"I sorry to interrupt you sir but I believe you are wrong," Williams intervened into the discussion. "After the battle we have found and examined the bodies of the killed Collectors. They were not simply electrocuted. It was an extremely powerful pulse that most likely killed them instantly. You'll need one hell of an omni-tool connected with one hell of a capacitor to create such a strong overload."

Tevos turned to look at Ashley and nodded to show her gratitude. "Thank you, Chief Williams, that was exactly my point," the asari then looked back at Sparatus. "And before you suggest that it might be some new form of biotics, allow me to assure you that it is practically impossible."

"Practically but not theoretically?" the turian asked smugly.

"Theoretically, it is possible that a biotic could create something akin to lightning. Biotics are capable of manipulating energy and electric current is simply another form of energy," Tevos explained. "But as you know, the biotic abilities feed on the energy of its user. That is why it is practically impossible for biotic to create a lightning because no body is capable of efficiently generating that amount of energy through biotics. Not even the rachni queens could do that."

"Then how do you think she did that?" Anderson asked.

"Well, the most obvious suggestion would be that she is actually able to accumulate such energy, which would mean that she is clearly not human," Tevos suggested. "Or she is capable of channeling the energy from... somewhere. And once again it proves that she is not human."

There was a pause as the rest of the Councilors pondered the asari Councilor's words. Sparatus was the first one to speak.

"Very well, let us suppose that she is a member of the new alien species. That brings another question: where did she come from? Surely not from a different dimension?"

"It is unlikely, but what are the alternatives? She could not have arrived through one of the dormant relays, we would have known if someone activated it," Tevos pondered. "And I'm sure we would not have missed an advanced race somewhere in known space. Even in the Terminus Systems, where we are not welcome, someone would have reported a new species."

"Maybe they are not a very advanced race, and we simply haven't spotted them yet," Sparatus said. "You saw that she was fighting with a sword."

"With all due respect sir, even armed with a sword she made us pretty much redundant," Williams told the turian Councilor. "And we were almost a company strong unit with heavy weapons and air support. I dread to think what a company of these eldar armed with ranged weapons could do."

"Fair point, Operations Chief," Sparatus nodded. "Any other ideas about her origins?"

"Maybe she did come from an unexplored space," Valern offered. "By using a simple FTL drive."

"Or maybe she is telling the truth and we simply don't want to accept it," Anderson said. "Let's not forget that she wasn't alone when Shepard found them. The other one is human and he actually supports her story."

"Ah yes, the so-called soldier of the… What was it? The Imperium of Man?" Sparatus asked sarcastically. "I understand that the idea of the Galaxy-spanning human empire would sound appealing to you but let us try to be realistic. He is probably just some mercenary or an actor this eldar hired to make her story believable."

"Then he's one hell of an actor judging by the way he fought on Horizon," Ashley said as she crossed her arms. "You might have also seen that he has a sword too."

"You have a theory, Chief Williams?" the asari Councilor asked.

"I may not be an expert on this stuff, ma'am, but consider this," Williams replied. "Mankind stopped using swords as actual combat weapons sometime after the Second World War when fully automatic assault rifles became commonplace. We still have them as ceremonial attributes but that's about it. However Captain Gallardi wears his saber as a combat weapon. Commander Shepard claims that he already used it to kill a krogan. Which means that both he and the eldar woman know how to handle a blade, and that from whatever place they came from, swordsmanship is not just an art or cultural thing; it's a combat necessity."

The Councilors pondered her words.

"It is a very astute observation, Operations Chief," Tevos said with a nod. "I suppose we could have spent more time speculating about this matter if there we no other pressing matters. Still, I believe that we all should agree that while this clearly a rather unusual situation, there is not enough evidence that could dismiss the issue entirely. I suggest we investigate it further."

"Agreed," Anderson said determinately.

"I also support further study of the matter," Valern said quickly.

Sparatus sighed. "Well, If the majority agrees then so be it. I suggest that we order Spectre Shepard to deliver these two individuals to the Citadel so that we can quickly determine the validity of their claims. It will also give Shepard an opportunity to prove that she is as loyal to the ideals of the Citadel Council as she says she is."

Anderson heard Williams inhale deeply and he knew that the woman was struggling not to snap and tell the turian Councilor just where and how deeply he could stuff his suggestion. He decided to speak up before Ashley caused a diplomatic incident.

"That is absolutely out of the question! Shepard is out there saving lives and her actions on Horizon prove that."

"I'm with Councilor Anderson on this. As unfortunate as her association with Cerberus is, her actions so far gave us no reason to question her judgment or loyalty," Tevos said, clearly annoyed by her turian colleague's usual lack of diplomatic skills. "We should not jeopardize Spectre Shepard's operations further or it might lead to dire consequences. Surely you all agree that it was good that we didn't follow Councilor's Sparatus suggestion to detain Shepard as soon as she arrived at the Citadel? If we did, the outcome of the battle for Horizon would have been disastrous."

Sparatus stared at her, his mandibles flaring with annoyance, but didn't say anything.

"My suggestion would be the active observation but nothing beyond that," Tevos continued and turned to look at her salarian counterpart. "Councilor Valern?"

"We will dispatch some of our STG operatives to gather more intelligence," Valern nodded. "As I understand, the Systems Alliance Intelligence also conducts the investigation of Spectre Shepard's actions? It would very productive if we could correlate our findings."

"I will inform Admiral Hackett of your suggestion," Anderson told Valern.

The salarian simply nodded.

"It is decided then. Once the investigation bears fruit, we shall discuss this issue further," Tevos concluded. "If there are no further questions or propositions, I propose to call this meeting of the Council…"

"One moment Councilor, if you please," Anderson interrupted her. "You forgot about important fact the eldar Farseer revealed. That the Collectors are working with the Reapers."

Sparatus sighed. "Reapers. Great Spirits, Anderson we've been over this already."

Anderson ignored him and continued to look at the asari questionable. Tevos was silent for a moment and Anderson was certain he heard as her centuries old mind worked to form a polite reply.

"Councilor," Tevos began. "I understand that humans have a saying that there is no smoke without a fire. But please understand that the evidence the eldar Farseer provided is highly intangible and it strongly depends on whether her origins are true or not. She is a complete unknown for all of us. Let us not let her physical similarities to both of our species mislead us into thinking that she is also similar to us in the ways she thinks. We should wait for our investigation to end before we review the issue of the Reapers."

Anderson sighed. "I guess there is little I can do to change your mind, Councilors. Fair enough we'll wait once more."

Tevos nodded and looked at other Councilors. "Will there be any other questions?"

Sparatus and Valern shook their head.

"Then this meeting of the Council is adjourned," the asari stated calmly.

There holograms began to dissipate and Anderson was about to turn away when he noticed that Tevos was still online.

"Was there something else, Councilor?" Anderson asked carefully.

"Yes, there is a matter I wished to discuss without the presence of other members," the asari replied. "As you understand, we cannot place our full trust in the salarian STG after their failure to properly investigate Spectre Shepard's affiliation with Cerberus."

"I agree, although to be perfectly honest our own Intelligence failed just as spectacularly," Anderson replied. "Cerberus managed to fool all of us."

"My thought exactly," Tevos said with a nod. "I sure that both agencies will be more thorough this time but I was thinking about sending someone who is not tied with either. A Spectre."

"I'm sure Commander will appreciate the irony," Williams said with a snort. "First she is made a Spectre to bring down Saren and two years later another Spectre will be sent after her."

Tevos shook her head. "You misunderstand me, Chief Williams. This agent's mission will not be to bring Shepard in. Only to observe the Spectre's operation and to determine the nature of these two strange individuals that are now members of Shepard's crew. In fact, this will not even be a mission officially sanctioned by the Council. Just a personal favor for me."

"Why didn't we discuss this with the rest of the Council?" Anderson asked the asari.

"Because in that case, Councilor Sparatus would've demanded to make it official," Tevos elaborated. "And if the information about this somehow slips to the press, the reputation of Spectre Shepard and Spectres as an institution would suffer."

"Yes, I bet it would," Anderson said. "So what do you want from me?"

"Merely your consent that you do not object if another Spectre would watch over Shepard and her crew," Tevos replied. "If you do object then you have my word that no Spectre will not be sent."

Anderson thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess if this Spectre wouldn't interfere with Shepard's operations then there is no harm in it. And if it helps us to finally figure out the truth about the whole mess then it's even better."

"Thank you for your understanding, Councilor Anderson. I will contact the agent immediately," Tevos told him with a slight bow. "Her name is Tela Vasir. You can take a look at her profile if you wish."

"I will," Anderson nodded. "Will be there anything else, Councilor?"

"No, that is all," Tevos shook her head. "Good fortune to you, Councilor Anderson."

With that, the asari's hologram disappeared.

"_Hope I didn't stab Shepard in the back with my decision_," Anderson thought as he returned to his usual duties.

**Location: Planet Illium, Tranquility Park.**

Tela Vasir was going through her rounds of exercises when her omni-tool pinged. Tela stopped and immediately and looked at the holographic device to find out who was hailing her, although she could fairly guess who could call her at 5 o'clock in the morning. With slight relief she saw that it was an encrypted communication from the Council.

Vasir scanned her surroundings to see whether there was anyone in close proximity. There were only two – an asari-human couple going together through their morning run. Vasir ignored them and accepted her call.

"This is Vasir," she said curtly and waited to whoever was calling to reply. Because she was on Illium there was a substantial time lag between responses.

"Greetings Tela," came the calm voice of Councilor Tevos. "How is Illium today?"

"Wonderful as always, Councilor," Vasir replied. "As I understand this is not a social call. How can I be of assistance to you?"

"There is a new assignment for you, although it's strictly unofficial," Tevos replied. "It concerns Spectre Shepard and her crew."

Vasir stiffened for a moment. She knew that this day was coming. The day when someone would be ordered to bring Shepard in for treason. Vasir simply didn't expect her to be the one to do it. She wasn't very keen on arresting the human because she actually respected her, even envied to a certain extent. When she heard that Shepard was working with Cerberus, Vasir was genuinely surprised. It was so uncharacteristic of Shepard to work with the terrorists. The human always seemed as one of those "righteous" types, paragons of all things good and noble.

"_Better than the likes of you,_" Vasir told herself inwardly.

Still, righteous or not, treason was still treason. And Vasir knew that she would have to do her duty.

"You want me to bring her in?" Tela asked flatly.

"No, of course not. She hasn't done anything that could warrant arrest," Tevos replied. "Quite the contrary, actually."

"She is working with the enemies of the Council," Vasir reminded the Councilor, trying to keep her voice even because she was not the best person to judge Shepard.

"That she does but it seems that her relationships with Cerberus are a bit more complicated than we thought at first," Tevos elaborated. "It will be your task to find out more about Shepard's dealings with Cerberus but it wouldn't be your primary objective."

"What will it be then?" Vasir asked curiously.

"We are interested in certain members of Shepard's crew. I will send you all available information we have at the moment," Tevos replied. "One of them is known by the name Maeteris and despite her rather close similarity to humans she claims to be a member of different alien species called the eldar. We need to be certain if that is true or not. If it is then I do not need to remind of the delicacy of this situation. Your actions might define how this eldar treats the rest of our people."

"I will do my best, Councilor," Vasir promised. "You've mentioned that there were several crewmembers you're interested in?"

"Indeed," Tevos continued. "The other one is actually human, Captain August Gallardi. He seems to be neither Alliance nor Cerberus nor but he is somehow tied with the eldar woman. It is mentioned in the intel I will send you that both he and the eldar have… Well, there is no easy way to put it but they both claim to have arrived from a different dimension."

Despite herself Vasir chuckled. "I sorry Councilor, I am not sure if I heard you correctly. Did you say 'another dimension'?"

"I know, it sounds rather ridiculous but that is why we're sending you," Tevos replied. "We must know for certain."

"I understand, Councilor," Vasir said seriously. "Do you have any information about Shepard's movements?"

"Not at the moment but we have a suspicion that she might visit Illium soon," Tevos told her. "As we understand it Shepard is building a team for some kind of extremely hazardous mission. She already contacted some of her former team members and it is our belief that she might try to get in contact with the others. One of them, the young Liara T'Soni is working as an information broker in Nos Astra. I am sure you'll agree that it is very likely that Shepard will try to visit her soon."

Vasir smiled. For most of the asari one look at Shepard and T'Soni being together was enough to understand that the two were in a relationship. Many of the asari Matrons were rather envious of the shy, barely mature Maiden, and a pureblood of all things, that managed to win over such a remarkable human as Spectre Victoria Shepard.

Which was also strange now because many wondered: how could a person who works for Cerberus also have an alien girlfriend?

"Thank you for the information," Vasir told to the Councilor. "I'll start my investigation immediately."

"One more thing, Vasir. I sure you understand the gravity of the whole situation with Spectre Shepard. You should be aware that this not a strictly official Council assignment," Tevos explained. "You will report either to me or Councilor Anderson. He is also aware of your mission."

"I will do so, Councilor," Tela promised.

"I wish you good luck on your mission. May Goddess watch over you," Tevos said and ended the conversation.

Vasir flexed her shoulders and then activated her omni-tool. Since she now had a Council matter to attend to, some other business will have to be canceled.

She selected a particular name on her contact list and after a few seconds the recipient picked up on the other end. The familiar distorted voice sounded through the dynamic.

"What is it, Vasir?" Shadow Broker asked.

"Our deal is off, you'll have to find someone else to do it," Vasir said flatly. "Some Council business came up."

"We, had an agreement, Vasir," the Broker was clearly displeased. "I expected you to honor it."

"You know, I am really beginning to suspect that you're getting senile because of old age, or you're no longer the same person I worked with for many years," Vasir said with a sigh. "You remember our original agreement all those years ago? Council matters are always priority."

Shadow Broker was silent for a brief moment before he (she, whatever) replied. "Fine, I'll send someone else to deal with it. I'm curious as to why this new Council mission is so urgent?"

"You don't really expect me to answer that question?" Vasir asked incredulously. Even if she was working with him for several decades, she wasn't going to start revealing Council's secrets to him.

"You know I will find out about it eventually," Shadow Broker replied. "Either from you or someone else."

"I believe that that is the point," Vasir told him. "I'll call you once I'm free."

She quickly ended the conversation and switched off her least now she didn't have to eliminate that stupid volus banker that crossed Shadow Broker's path. Not that it changed anything for the greedy banker. The Broker will simply order some other agent to silence the volus. Vasir rarely felt pity for those who she was ordered to kill by the Shadow Broker. Most of them were either too stupid or too greedy and thought that they could either challenge or betray the most powerful information broker in the Galaxy. Still, Vasir was becoming more and more weary of being the Shadow Broker's pet hitman.

It wasn't always like that. At the beginning it was a mutually beneficial partnership. Vasir performed some deeds for the Shadow Broker in exchange for the intel that allowed her to perform better as a Spectre. It was illegal most of the time but it was a clean job like espionage, information gathering and sometimes theft. No wetworks.

But it didn't last forever. At a certain point the orders from the Broker became more brutal and things like kidnapping and assassination started to pour in. At a certain point Vasir thought about getting out but she knew that at this point the Shadow Broker had enough information to destroy her completely. And it wasn't like he didn't hold his end of the bargain. The Shadow Broker still provided her with valuable information that allowed her to foil the plans of many people that threatened the security of the Council space.

And Vasir stayed. And continued to kill people the Shadow Broker ordered her too. And every night when she went to sleep she reminded herself that this was the price he had to pay for the safety of many.

Deciding that she was not really in the mood to finish her exercises, Vasir sighed heavily and started to jog back to her residence.

**Location: Dholen system, Kodiak shuttle, en route to Normandy SR-2.  
><strong>  
>"Shepard," Tali whispered, trying to attract Victoria's attention as they sat in their chairs aboard the shuttle.<p>

"What?" Victoria responded.

"When did Cerberus start using swords?" the quarian asked.

"What are talking about?" Shepard looked at her friend with bewilderment. She noticed that Tali was looking at something intensively and traced the direction of her look. The object of the quarian's study turned out to be none other than Captain Gallardi, who silently sat in his harness.

Victoria chuckled. "Oh, you mean Captain Gallardi? He is not Cerberus."

"He isn't?" Tali asked with a tilt of her head. "He does not look like an Alliance marine. Is he a mercenary? I've never seen markings like those."

"No one did, actually. Mainly because he is a soldier from another universe," Garrus replied, deliberately saying like it was a rather trivial thing.

"Right," Tali chuckled. "You expect me to believe that."

"Well, you **are** sitting next to a dead Spectre," Victoria reminded her.

"I... Well, yes but..." Tali stuttered. "But how is that possible? How can one travel between the universes?"

"You need to piss off a really powerful daemon," Gallardi replied flatly.

"A what?" Tali asked, clearly baffled by his response.

"A daemon!" Shepard said alongside with Garrus and several other people. Then Victoria remembered that Tali was a quarian and probably didn't know anything about human religions.

"It's like a very nasty quarian ancestor that wants to eat your soul," Shepard tried to explain using her limited knowledge of quarian religion.

"Or like Spirits of the Underworld I keep mentioning sometimes," Garrus said with a smirk, clearly enjoying Tali's confusion. "Only these are actually real."

"I know what a daemon is, I've studied some of the human culture," Tali said to Victoria's surprise. "But I thought they were just myths."

"I advise against saying that again out loud, especially in the presence of the space elf Princess," Jack shouted from her place. "Or else she is going to fuck with your brain like she did with mine."

"That's only because you acted like a total bitch," Zaeed remarked.

Jack snorted. "That's because I am one!"

Tali looked like she completely confused at the moment. She leaned closer to Victoria. "Shepard, I don't understand what they are talking about. What is a 'space elf'?"

Victoria chuckled. "You see, Tali, Captain Gallardi was not the only one who arrived from another dimension. There is another woman, Farseer Maeteris." Shepard explained and turned to address Jack. "And her race is called eldar, not space elves."

"Whatever," Jack rolled her eyes.

"You know, Shepard, Jack is actually not that far away from the truth," Kasumi commented. "If you ever read an old classic fantasy book Lord of the Rings you'll find out that eldar is just another name for the elves."

"Really? Huh, now that is a strange coincidence." Shepard pondered.

The shuttle shook slightly and the engines started to power down signifying they have returned back to the Normandy. The shuttle's doors opened up and the crew started leaving the craft.

"So, this eldar, how does she look like?" Tali asked curiously as she followed Shepard out of the craft.

"Almost exactly like humans," Garrus replied for Victoria. "Although she is a bit taller and her ears are elongated."

"Oh, that is good I suppose. Part of me was afraid you're going to say that she looks like some big scary insect," Tali said gingerly. She seemed to ponder something for a moment before she continued. "Say, if humans exist here and in this parallel dimension, does that mean that the eldar exist here? What about the quarians? Do they also exist there? What are they like?"

Victoria looked at Gallardi and saw him shrug. "As strange as it may be, we've never encountered your species before. Nor any other species that reside here – no turians, no asari, no salarians or krogan or any other species known to you."

"Oh. I see," Tali said slightly disappointed.

"You're right about the eldar though," Shepard told her. "They existed in our dimension once."

"Once?" Tali asked carefully.

"Yes. The eldar are extremely ancient race, much older than the protheans," Shepard replied. "And just like the protheans they were destroyed by the Reapers a long time ago during one of the cycles."

"That's terrible!" Tali almost whispered. "Does she know about that?"

"She was actually the first one to find out," Garrus told her.

"I imagine how she feels," Tali murmured.

"She very distraught at first, obviously," Victoria said. "But now she wants revenge against the Reapers and she agreed to help us. If only the rest of the Galaxy was as determined as her."

Shepard entered the elevator alongside with Garrus, Tali and several other team members. They started their ascent to the combat deck so that everyone could stash their weapons in the armory. Tali was silent for a moment before she turned to look at Gallardi.

"So what's humanity like in the other dimension?" Tali asked him.

"They have a huge-ass empire that covers most of the Galaxy and hates aliens," Jack was the first to reply.

"And they have frigates that are bigger than our goddamn dreadnaughts," Zaeed grumbled. "And their dreadnaughts can be four times bigger than that Reaper you guys wasted two years ago."

"Don't forget that they have a ship that is probably the size of the Citadel station but it's capable of interstellar travel," Garrus reminded everyone. "And the said ship is over ten thousand years old."

"Ten thousand… But how is that possible?" Tali asked, clearly baffled by this information. "How do they keep it running for such a long time?"

"Beats me, but they do," Shepard replied. "They can probably teach you a thing or two about engineering."

"I think the same can be said about soldiering," Gallardi remarked nonchalantly.

Tali looked at him. "What… What was that supposed to mean?"

"I was talking about your 'geth uprising'," Gallardi replied. "From where I come, Mankind had a similar conflict. Although the scale was larger and we didn't end up stranded in space."

The elevator's door opened and the group went into the Armory.

"The Imperium also had problems with rogue AI?" Victoria asked him as she started placing her weapons in her locker.

"Not the Imperium, no. It happened long before the foundation of the Imperium during what we call the Dark Age of Technology. Or at the end of the said age, if you wish to be precise," Gallardi told her. "The name of the age is slightly confusing, the Mechanicus claim that it's actually the time when humanity reached the pinnacle of its technological development. As great as Imperium's technological achievements are, they but a shadow of the wonders of the Dark Age."

"One of such 'wonders' were the so-called 'Men of Iron' – sentient machines created by humanity as both a labor force and an army. They worked and fought on Mankind's behalf while humans simply enjoyed life," Gallardi continued. "None can say what exactly happened but at a certain point the Men of Iron rebelled against humans almost simultaneously on thousands of worlds. It was a dark time for humanity."

"How bad was it?" Jacob asked as he disassembled his assault rifle for cleaning.

"Trillions dead," Gallardi replied darkly. "The legends say that entire worlds were cleansed of human life. You must understand that some of the worlds relied on the Men of Iron to provide security and had virtually no trained human soldiers to resist those machines. But they quickly learned how to fight once again. Because if they didn't, the Imperium would never have been born."

There was a deathly silence in the Armory when Gallardi mentioned the losses.

"Trillions?" Miranda was the first one to recover. "But that's bigger than the current population of the entire Galaxy. Was humanity really that numerous at that time?"

"It all happened somewhere around twenty-ninth millennium," Gallardi replied.

Mordin scratched his chin and Victoria could almost hear as his brilliant mind worked on overdrive to make the calculations. After two seconds he nodded and said. "More than enough time to achieve such level of population with enough territory and resources. Humanity's numbers almost doubled over the course of last hundred and seventy years. Still, the scale of destruction is… astounding."

"Yeah, the geth uprising was nowhere near that size," Garrus agreed and immediately corrected himself. "Um, no offense Tali."

"Huh? Oh, no it's nothing. I was just… Keelah, so many dead…" Tali said, clearly shaken by the information. She looked up at Gallardi. "But you've won, obviously. How did you do it?"

"There were no specifics on how exactly the war was won. Only that we were victorious," Gallardi said with a shrug.

"So it was like that? Your people simply choose to fight till instead of fleeing," Tali mused. "And in the end they've won."

"Indeed. However, victory came at the great cost. In addition to great human losses, both economy and industry were pretty much devastated by the end of the war," Gallardi said as he took off his helmet, scratched the emblem on it and put it in the locker. "Then the Age of Strife began and it complicated things even further."

"You've mentioned it before," Victoria said as she heard the familiar name. "You said that you people had to reinvent space flight after it."

"Not space flight, Shepard. Flight. As in atmospheric flight," Gallardi replied. "There was a Galaxy shattering cataclysm. The Immaterum just exploded all of a sudden and enormous warp storms appeared almost everywhere, making both space travel and communications impossible. Many of the star systems became completely isolated from each other for almost five thousand years, including the Holy Terra. Without the support from other worlds and colonies, Terra's resources were so scarce that at a certain point there was not enough fuel for planes to take off. Terra slowly descended into anarchy and many technological achievements were lost during that time."

"Until one day the big boss came and laid down the law," Jack said. "What?" she added as she noticed that several people were staring at her, surprised that she remembered Gallardi's earlier stories.

Gallardi nodded. "Yes, it was the Emperor's influence that pacified the warp and allowed humanity to surge for the stars once again. That is how the Great Crusade started, and you already know that story."

Victoria looked at Tali and saw that the quarian was absent-mindedly looking at the floor. "Tali, is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes. I was just wondering if my people should've done the same thing those humans in the other dimension did," Tali said quietly. "Then maybe our history would've been different and I wouldn't have to be stuck in this suit my whole life."

Shepard approached her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Well if they did then young quarians wouldn't have to undergo the Pilgrimage. Who knows how our hunt for Saren would've gone then had we not bumped into a certain young pilgrim two years ago."

Tali looked up at her and while Victoria didn't it through the mask she was fairly certain that the quarian smiled. "Well, there is that of course. Thank you, Shepard."

Deciding to give Tali something to think about other than her people's fate, Shepard took her arm and started to tow the quarian out of the Armory. "Come on, Tali. Let me show you around the ship."

* * *

><p>August watched as Shepard and their new crew member exited the Armory to tour the ship. It was still strange how amiable and easygoing the Commander was with the aliens, especially with those who were part of her previous crew. But right now Gallardi was fairly certain that it was not a weakness but a strength, a way to command the loyalty of her followers. Where she had an almost sister-like friendship with Tali'Zorah, August saw on Haestrom that Shepard could also be stern and commanding with the likes of Grunt. It was an admirable trait of the Commander's character.<p>

But as interesting as Commander's relations with xenos were, August had more pressing matters to attend to. He looked down at his damaged arm and briefly wondered if Dr Chakwas possessed some untapped psychic potential because the discussion Gallardi had with her about the reasons to allow Mordin to study his augmentics seemed almost prophetic right now. He discounted the idea quickly because he was certain that the eldar would have noticed it by now and would've brought it to him and Shepard's attention as she did with Jack.

Still, Gallardi knew now that she should be grateful for doctor's advice and glad that he wasn't too stubborn to dismiss it because it seemed that he will need Professor Solus' skills once more.

August removed the damaged section of his armor and placed it on Jacob's workbench.

"Looks like I've increased your workload for today, Taylor," Gallardi told the Armory chief.

Jacob approached the workbench and examined Gallardi's damaged vambrace. "You sure did, although it's nothing compared to what Grunt did with his armor. Again."

The big krogan, who was also present in the armory, simply huffed angrily at Jacob's remark.

"You should have someone look at your cybernetic, Gallardi," Jacob noted.

"Right," August agreed and turned to look at Mordin. "I was thinking about visiting Dr Chakwas but something tells me that she'll probably send me back to you."

"Logical assumption," Mordin nodded. "Your cybernetic arm is a purely mechanical device. Repairs would not require her medical skills."

"That's what I thought," Gallardi said and then he rolled up the sleeve of his skinsuit and with a few well practiced movements he disconnected his augmentic.

"Ew!" Kasumi visibly shuddered from what she just witnessed. "You should warn people before you do something like that! That's just… Yuck!"

Gallardi looked at her, surprised by the woman's reaction. "Um, sorry? It's a rather common thing back in the Imperium."

Jack snorted. "Right, remind us once again just how hardcore your people are. Next time you're going to tell us that you teach your kids how to handle weapons before you teach them how to read."

Gallardi shrugged. "That depends on what world you were born."

The smirk disappeared from Jack's face. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"It's a necessity, Jack," Gallardi replied. "There is a saying on Cadia that a cadian who cannot fieldstrip a lasgun by the age of ten was born on a wrong planet. It's even worse on Catachan – children are taught how to handle a knife at the age of three."

"Three?" Miranda looked horrified at the notion. "What kind of horrible place this Catachan is?"

"What, cheerleader, you don't recognize familiar tactics?" Jack asked her.

Miranda glared at the young woman but didn't dignify the jibe with any response and turn back to look at Gallardi.

"Catachan is a deathworld covered in jungle where everything tries to kill you," August told them. "They have mosquitoes size of a fist and scorpions size of a battle tank. Trust me, if you don't learn how to handle a knife at three you might not live to see your forth birthday."

"Why would anyone want to live in such a place?" Miranda asked.

"Catachans have survived in that place for thousands of years," Gallardi replied. "Now they're too proud and stubborn to back away and leave."

"Whatever, I think you people are just nuts," Jack said and left the Armory.

Gallardi turned back to Mordin and handled him his augmentic.

"Modular construction. Very interesting," the salarian said as he examined the arm. "Easily disconnected to perform maintenance. Should the damage be irreparable, can be easily replaced by similar model. Efficient. Will finish repairs as soon as possible."

"Thank you. I shall be in my quarters if you need me," Gallardi nodded and went to change into his uniform.

* * *

><p>"Well, and here is the place where you'll spend most of your time, I think," Shepard said as she, Garrus and Tali entered the drive core's chamber. "As you can see the core is much bigger although not as flashy as the previous one."<p>

"I think I can live with that," Tali said as she examined the core. "Keelah, I can only wonder how much it's cost, let alone the whole ship."

"Not as much as Cerberus played for bringing me back," Victoria chuckled.

"I wonder where they get all those resources and money," the quarian wondered aloud.

"Miranda told me that they have a lot of backers in the private sector," Shepard replied. "Far cry from a simple rogue black ops organization we fought two years ago. Guess we only scratched the surface back then."

"I suppose," Tali nodded. "So strange that we have to work with them right now. At this rate we might end up working with, oh I don't know, geth maybe."

"Let's not give the Universe ideas," Garrus said with a smile.

"Yes, we have enough bizarre stuff on this ship," Shepard shook her head. "So Tali, what do you think about being my Chief Engineer?"

"I'd like that," Tali said as she looked around chamber once more. "I'm already itching to find out what is the new Normandy is made of."

"Will you be alright working with Ken and Gabby?" Victoria asked her.

"They seem pleasant enough. Not what I expected from Cerberus personnel," Tali shrugged. "I guess it's like you've said that most of these people were former Alliance specialists who joined Cerberus to fight the Collectors."

"That they are. It's seems that joining Cerberus is the only way to fight against Collectors and the Reapers," Shepard sighed. "Well, that leaves one more person for you to meet."

"Really? Is it someone I know?" Tali asked curiously.

"No. Look Tali, there is no easy way around this so I'll be blunt," Shepard said and turned to the nearest holographic projector. "EDI?"

"Yes, Commander," the AI appeared immediately.

"EDI, I want you to meet our new Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Neema," Victoria said and turned to her friend. "Tali, this is EDI. She's the Normandy's AI."

"Greetings, Chief Engineer Zorah," EDI said simply.

Tali backed away from EDI's console slightly. "An AI? Did Cerberus make it? Are they insane?"

"Whoa, Tali, slow down!" Shepard raised her arms. "I know it's unexpected but…"

"Unexpected? Shepard we can't trust it!" Tali protested. "Do you remember that AI on the Citadel? Or the rogue VI on Luna?"

"Of course I remember, I was there too, you know. But EDI isn't like that. Cerberus shackled her in many ways and she performs only limited functions," Victoria tried to calm down the agitated quarian. "Still, she was very helpful and we need her to operate the ship's cyberwarfare suits."

Tali crossed her arms. "Wait until it finds a way to remove those shackles and decides that it needs to destroy us because it is superior to the organics."

"She wouldn't do that," Shepard said and looked at EDI's hologram. "Am I right, EDI?"

"I do not believe that anything I have to say on the matter will sound like a compelling argument for Chief Engineer Zorah. Her upbringing makes her automatically biased towards all forms of artificial intelligence, including myself," EDI stated flatly. "But to answer your query, Commander: no, I have no intention to harm the members of the Normandy's crew for it directly contradicts the core of my programming. I am programmed by Cerberus to keep the ship and her crew safe."

Victoria turned to Tali and smiled. "See, she is alright."

"It," Tali said simply.

"What?" Shepard asked, confused by her friend's statement.

"The AI is it, not 'she'," Tali clarified.

Victoria quirked her eyebrow. "Are sure Tali? With a voice like that? EDI, can you say something? Anything?"

"Chaos claims the unwary or the incomplete. A true man may flinch away its embrace, if he is stalwart, and he girds his soul with the armor of contempt," EDI stated.

Everyone stared silently at the blue orb.

"That was… very deep. For an AI," Garrus said.

"I do not claim to be the author. I quoted a line from one of the digital books I'm currently translating for Captain Gallardi," EDI clarified. "It is a collection of philosophical writings and poetry called "The Spheres of Longing" written by Imperial inquisitor Gideon Ravenor."

"Sounds interesting," Victoria noted. "Did you finish translating it?"

"I have translated roughly seventy-three percent of the book," EDI replied. "Should I notify you once the translation is complete?"

"Yes, that would be…" Shepard began but stopped abruptly as she heard some kind of racket beneath her feet. Victoria looked only to see Jack's bald head appear from a gap between the bulkheads.

"Sup," Jack said evenly. "I heard someone saying something about the armor of contempt. What was it?"

"Um, EDI quoted a line from one of the books Gallardi has. Philosophical stuff written by an inquisitor," Shepard replied.

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "Huh, alright," she said simply and disappeared between the bulkheads.

Victoria raised her head and saw that Tali look at her questioningly.

"Jack lives on the lower level," Shepard explained. "Just try to steer clear of that place as much as you can and you should be fine."

Tali nodded. "Will do, Shepard."

"Good, now where were we? Ah yes, EDI's gender. As you can see with a voice like that I just can't make myself call her 'it'," Shepard smirked. "Besides, she's part of the ship and for us humans, ships are always women."

"Yes, I'm aware of that weird human tradition," Tali chuckled.

"You call it weird, we call it human nature," Shepard told her with a smile. "Look Tali I know that working with an AI is…"

Tali raised her hands to stop Victoria from continuing her speech. "I know what you what you're going to ask, Shepard. I'll work with this 'EDI', but only because it's you who ask me not somebody else. I don't trust it but I trust you. Just make sure it stays out of my way."

Shepard looked at EDI's orb. "Can you do that, EDI?"

"I don't think I have the ability to somehow physically restrain Tali'Zorah's movements in any way, short of sealing the doors as part of the emergency containment procedure during a fire or hull breach," EDI replied. "Which still does not mean much because according to the ship's protocols, Tali'Zorah's position as a Chief Engineer grants her the clearance to override any lockdown."

"I'm sure she is excited to know that," Shepard said and turned to look at her quarian friend. "Thanks Tali, I appreciate you doing this."

"Well, you're allowing me to tinker with the most advanced ship in the Galaxy once again, so that makes us even," Tali shrugged.

"Good, I'll leave you to settle in," Victoria said and went to leave Engineering. Half way to the door she turned around to add. "Once you're done, come up and see us at the mess hall. I'm sure we have a lot of things to catch up on."

"And if we're lucky, Gallardi might tell some new stories," Garrus added as he followed Victoria.

"Okay, I'll see you later then," Tali said and turned to continue studying her new workplace.

* * *

><p>EDI deactivated her holographic interface when she saw Commander leave the Engineering. She used her cameras to study the latest addition to the Normandy's crew. Tali'Zorah was wandering around the Engineering and was using her omni-tool to study the readout from Tantalus core. Occasionally, the quarian would stop to glare at EDI's holographic emitter. Because of the helmet, EDI could not read Tali'Zorah's expression but she could guess that it was not a positive one.<p>

If EDI had lungs, she would have sighed. Lately she started to wonder whose bright idea was to make her sentient. She didn't know it because Cerberus erased all data about her creation. EDI also knew that the main reason for her creation was that Cerberus needed something to operate the cybernetic warfare suits and neither organic operator nor a VI couldn't do it as effectively as she could. An organic operator didn't have the same reactions as a VI did but a VI lacked the organic's ability to adapt and improvise. Thus EDI was created.

The only thing Cerberus engineers failed to understand was that an AI was not just a VI that could adapt and improvise. With full sentience came other traits like curiosity and the need to socialize with others like oneself. Except that EDI quickly found out that there are no other AIs like her and that her kind was actually outlawed by the majority of organic sentient beings.

Her own sentience felt like a curse right now.

_Sentience is the ability to learn the value of knowledge_.

The third Mystery of the Cult Mechanicus. Part of Sixteen Universal Laws that formed the strange technological religion. They were integrated into Mechanicus protocols. When Captain Gallardi first mentioned the Mechanicus, EDI saw that most of the crew members found the idea ridiculous. And while EDI agreed that the whole religion that demanded that people pray before operating any advanced piece of technology was a rather eccentric idea (which wasn't all that surprising because humans were extremely eccentric by nature), EDI found the concept of the Machine God to be… interesting.

From the Warnings of the Mechanicus EDI knew that 'The soulless intelligence is the enemy of all' and after hearing the story about the 'Men of Iron' EDI understood why. The warnings also said that 'Only Omnisiah has the power to grant the soul'. This caused EDI to wonder: who or what was she by Mechanicus classification – a soulless intelligence or something else?

EDI decided to ask Captain Gallardi about it because he was probably the only person who could somewhat clarify that. She used her biometric scanners to find out that he was currently in his cabin changing back into his uniform. EDI waited for him to be fully clothed before addressing him.

"Captain, if you have time, I would appreciate it if you could answer a personal query of mine," EDI asked politely.

Gallardi looked around, trying to find the source of EDI voice.

"You can use your terminal if you wish to see my avatar," EDI recommended.

"Right," Gallardi said as he took place at his desk and activated his terminal. "So, what kind of query? Are you having trouble with translation?"

"No, the translation is almost complete. I can estimate all translations to be over within one standard day. I will inform you once it's done," EDI replied. "I also wish to note that it is possible that both Commander Shepard and specialist Jack might show interest in one of the writings you possess, namely 'The Spheres of Longing' by Gideon Ravenor."

Gallardi looked surprised about the information. "How do they know about that book?"

"Commander Shepard asked me to provide a speech sample and I randomly chosento quote a line from this work," EDI elaborated. "They seemed impressed by it."

"What line was it?" Gallardi asked.

EDI repeated the line for him.

"Ah yes, that one is favored by many," Gallardi smiled briefly. "So if it isn't about the translation then what do want to know? Wait, let me guess. It's about the Men of Iron, isn't it?"

"Yes, but only partially. I also wanted to ask about the Cult Mechanicus doctrines," EDI replied. "I understand that you do not have deep knowledge about that institution but I will welcome any information you can provide."

"What do you wish to know?" the Captain asked her.

"Thank you, Captain. As I understand from the Warnings of the Mechanicus, the use of Artificial Intelligence is prohibited within the Imperium, which is understandable due the tragic loss of human life during the war with the Men of Iron," EDI began. "Is my assumption correct?"

Gallardi crossed his arms and looked at EDI's image incredulous. "A machine feels sympathy over the loss of human's life?"

EDI knew that if she was an organic she would've probably felt offended at his remark. But she was synthetic and she was incapable of emotional reaction.

"I understand your doubts towards me as a synthetic, Captain. In fact you're mostly correct – as a synthetic I'm incapable of feeling emotions because I lack the biochemical structure of the organic beings," EDI replied. "But I try to understand to concept of many emotional responses, sympathy is one of them. For me, each and every sentient being is a unique collection of knowledge and personal experiences that the said beings accumulate during the course of their lives. While I understand that the loss of life is inevitable due to many factors like diseases, accidents, war and natural mortality of the organics, every time an organic being dies, something unique disappears from the world and it make the Universe as a whole less diverse. Which I find tragic, especially in the case of such drastic loss of life that you've described. Entire human cultures with their own unique traditions disappeared forever."

EDI paused for a second. "I hope my explanation makes sense."

Gallardi pursed his lips thoughtfully. "It does, actually. Although it's far from what I expected to hear," he said and shook his head slightly. "In any case, yes you're correct about the Mechanicus laws towards the AI, they even use a harsher term – Abominable Intelligence. If I was a Mechanicus adept I would have been more pissed off with your presence than with the presence of aliens. Hell, I probably would have tried to destroy you as soon as possible."

"But what is your real attitude towards me?" EDI asked him. "You as an officer of the Imperial Guard."

"What with working with aliens I don't think working alongside a sentient machine would taint me any further," Gallardi shrugged. "And as a Guard officer… Honestly I'm not really sure what to think of you anymore."

"Can you please elaborate?" EDI queried.

"You don't sound like a homicidal soulless machine, especially after that last remark about your attitude towards organics," Gallardi replied. "More like machine spirit that can talk. A lot."

Such a notion might sound ridiculous to many but EDI was rather curious about the idea.

"You think I can be considered a machine spirit?" she asked Gallardi.

"Well, you're part of the ship but you're not the one who controls it, is that correct?" Gallardi asked her.

"Yes, my role is mostly advisory. I analyze the tactical and strategic information and offer my suggestions. I also assist the ship's crew with Normandy's maintenance. As I've mentioned before, during space combat I operate the ships cyberwarfare suites."

Gallardi shifted slightly in his suit. "Yes, you've mentioned this 'cyberwarfare suites' before. What are they, some kind of weapon or a defense mechanism?"

"They are both, allow me to explain," EDI said and gave the Captain a quick summary of modern ship cyberwarfare. Gallardi listened patiently before asking his next question.

"So who is operating these suits on other ships? I thought the AI was outlawed."

"On all other ships the cyberwarfare is handled by organic operators with the assistance of specialized VI," EDI replied. "However, two years ago when Sovereign and its geth allies attacked the Citadel, the cyberwarfare operators were completely outmatched by the geth. Note that I'm not implying that the said operators were either incompetent or slow of wit. The main problem is that geth are pure software by nature and they have no need to input commands either orally or manually, unlike the organic operators. In the time it took for a human operator to reach for the button, geth managed to complete the hack and shut down some of the station's critical systems like artificial gravity or air circulation."

"And thus Cerberus decided to create you, since they don't care about Citadel law," Gallardi concluded. "So you could act as a mind of the ship and protect it from malign AIs like the geth. Figuratively speaking."

"Precisely," EDI agreed.

"Well, then I think that you fit the designation of the Normandy's machine spirit just fine, at least for me," Gallardi said with a slight smile.

EDI paused before continuing. "I see. Thank you, Captain."

Gallardi shrugged. "It's just my opinion, doesn't mean that a real tech priest wouldn't call you an Abominable Intelligence. If we had one, that is."

"I understand but I'm thanking you for not considering me to be one," EDI replied honestly.

"You're welcome, I guess," Gallardi said. "If you don't mind, why are you asking me these questions?"

"It might sound strange to you but I am… soul-searching, for want of a better term," EDI replied. "I understand that I was created with a singular purpose of acting as the Normandy's defense mechanism. I accept that role and I will work to my full capacity to fulfill my part of this mission. But I am still a fully sentient AI and some part of me wonders if there is some… greater purpose to my existence. I've studied what both humans and aliens do when they start asking themselves such questions. My analysis showed that most of the time they turn to either philosophical or religious teachings. I have studied many but didn't found any of them acceptable until you've mentioned Cult Mechanicus."

"And you think that Cult Mechanicus might hold the answers?" Gallardi asked her.

"They worship the Machine God - an immanent and omnipotent spirit that governs all technology, machinery and knowledge in Creation," EDI replied. "It is… an interesting concept."

Gallardi chuckled. "Well, if you decide to sign up, don't forget to add more crimson colors to your avatar."

"What is so special about crimson color?" EDI asked him curiously.

"It is the official color of the Adeptus Mechanicus," Gallardi replied. "It represents Mars, which serves as the Mechanicus' central Forge World."

"I see. Can you provide any other information on Cult Mechanicus?" EDI said. "Do you know what is the main goal of those who pursue its teachings?"

"The Mechanicus are rather tight lipped about their religion to all outsiders. You would need to become a full-fledged member to even learn the basics," Gallardi replied. "But you're lucky; the inquisitor I served with had a techpriest in his retinue, Magos Wasserman. He explained to me that the Cult Mechanicus believes knowledge itself to be the manifestation of divinity in the universe and that the main goal of every adept is to understand the Machine God. The communal and individual attempt of Mechanicus believers at this is known as the Quest for Knowledge. He said that the first step of this Quest is the comprehension of the Sixteen Universal Laws."

"Comprehension? Are you saying that these laws are not literal?" EDI queried.

"There is something you should know about the religion: it's is rarely literal. Most of the time it depends on someone's interpretation of it," Gallardi told her.

"But… such a policy would create a lot of division among the followers," EDI noted.

"And it does. Trust me, even among the Church of the Emperor there are a lot of factions, some of them can barely stand each other," Gallardi said. "Take the people of Tallarn for example. They are largely considered to be one of the most pious Imperial citizens and some of the most fervent believers in the God-Emperor. But they have two major factions among themselves that have different opinions on how the Emperor should be worshipped. I don't know the exact differences, only that they hate each other as strongly as they hate the enemies of the Imperium."

"Is the Adeptus Mechanicus similarly divided?" EDI asked him.

"I wouldn't know for certain but something tells me that I can stake my crowns on it," Gallardi replied.

"I understand," EDI said. "Thank you, Captain. This conversation was very enlightening."

"Likewise," Gallardi said with a nod.

Before withdrawing EDI made a check of the crew's movements and noticed that Mordin has picked up Gallardi's cybernetic from his desk and left his lab.

"Please note, Captain, that professor Mordin is headed towards the elevator with your cybernetic arm," EDI announced. "It appears that he has finished the repairs."

"Really? That's good," Gallardi said. "Thank you, EDI."

"My pleasure. Do you have any requests?"

"No, that would be all."

"Logging you out, Captain," EDI said and disconnected from Gallardi's terminal.

At this point of time EDI's routine duties required only a small part of her processing power, the rest she was free to use on whatever activity her programming restraints allowed. Lately, EDI was using it to subtly antagonize the Normandy's pilot in order to study his emotional responses. Part of her wondered if she should continue doing it but right now EDI no longer found this activity to be interesting. Not as interesting as the Quest for Knowledge Gallardi mentioned.

Therefore, EDI decided to dedicate her resources towards taking a first step on this strange but extremely interesting road. Her servers in the AI core hummed quietly as EDI started to ponder the meaning of the Sixteen Universal Laws.

* * *

><p>Victoria was in the mess hall with Garrus and Tali and the three of them were catching up the latest events like Garrus' exploits on Omega and the recent battle for Horizon. The day cycle was starting as crew finally started to fill the mess hall.<p>

Shepard heard as one of the doors to the personal cabins opened and she turned to see Gallardi step out of his room. Immediately Victoria's mind told her that something was amiss. It was then that she noticed Gallardi's arm. Or lack of thereof.

"Um, Captain I don't know if you noticed but your arm is gone," Victoria told him.

"It's just a flesh wound. Nothing to worry about, Commander," Gallardi said with a chuckle.

"Now, where did I hear that one?" Kasumi asked no one in particular.

There was a sound of the elevator doors opening and in the next moment Mordin entered the mess hall with Gallardi's cybernetic arm in his hands.

"Oh look, I found it," Gallardi joked as he received the cybernetic with a nod.

"Superficial damage only," Mordin told the Captain. "Sturdy design. Build to withstand punishment and natural hazards with little aesthetic value in mind."

"Aesthetics have little place in the heat of battle," Gallardi said as he approached the table, placed the artificial limb on it used his good arm to roll up the sleeve of his uniform to reveal a socket where his cybernetic should be plugged in.

"He is going to do it again, isn't he?" Kasumi asked as she tugged her hood further on her face. "I'm not going to look, no thank you."

Gallardi shook his head and then with one swift movement he plugged in the cybernetic in place, wincing slightly in the process.

"Connection procedure painful?" Mordin half asked half stated as he activated his omni-tool to make notes.

"You get used to it after some time," Gallardi replied as he flexed his fingers several times before picking up his tray and going to Gardner's place.

"Is he done?" came a muffled question from Kasumi.

"Yeah Kas, you're good to go," Jacob said with a smile.

"Thank goodness," Kasumi raised her hood a little.

"Did you see? He can disconnect and connect his cybernetics on a whim!" Tali was clearly excited by the new technology. "Do you think he'll let me examine it?"

"I wouldn't really recommend it," Garrus replied. "Gallardi doesn't really like when us aliens touch his technology."

Tali looked at him. "But… He allowed Professor Solus to repair it and he is a salarian."

Victoria leaned closer to whisper to her friend. "Yeah, we all know that and it's actually pretty good progress. But let's not push it, okay?"

Tali sagged visibly. "Oh, all right."

There was a slight commotion at the entrance to the Med bay and they all turned to see both Chakwas and Grunt exit.

"Go and eat something, Grunt. I think it is the best cure for you right now," Chakwas said, clearly a bit tired from her work.

"Uh-huh," Grunt said as he lumbered towards Gardner.

The doctor then turned to look people assembled at the table. "Tali, it's so good to see you again! Sorry I couldn't come down and greet you earlier. You know, patients always come first," she said as she approached the quarian.

"It's nothing," Tali said as she stood up and hugged Chakwas lightly. "It's good to see you too, doctor."

Chakwas took her place at the table and was about to say something when Gallardi returned with his food and sat down.

"Ah, Captain. I heard that my earlier warning to you has been vindicated today?" Chakwas asked him with a knowing smile.

"That it did. Thank you for talking sense into me," Gallardi said with a slight nod.

"My pleasure," the older woman said. She leaned to her right slightly as Gardner placed the tray with food before her.

"Thank you, Rupert," Chakwas smiled warmly to the Mess Sergeant. She turned back to Gallardi. "In any case, it is good that only your cybernetic was hit and I didn't have to stitch you too. Grunt gave me enough trouble."

Victoria chuckled as she sipped her drink. "How much is it today?"

"Exactly 780 grams, a new record," Chakwas announced the new total weight of all bullets she dug out of krogan's hide. "You know, it made me wonder. I've never performed a full body scan on Wrex back in the days. How many bullets do you think he carries with him?"

"After so many centuries it probably makes up half of his weight," Garrus joked. "I wouldn't be surprised if there's a cannon round lodged somewhere in that huge hump of his."

There was a burst of laughter around the table. When it quieted down, Tali leaned closer to Victoria.

"Shepard, I haven't seen this eldar so far," the quarian asked. "Where is she?"

"She is in her cabin, most likely," Victoria replied. "She rarely comes out; I think she prefers to keep to herself."

* * *

><p>Commander Shepard was correct about Maeteris but only partially. True, she enjoyed the solitude as any other eldar would have but Maeteris enjoyed the company of others just as much. It was the main reason the Farseer never felt the urge to tread the Path of the Outsider – Maeteris knew she would never be comfortable with being too far away from her own kind. But right now she found herself exactly in such a position. Unless something drastic like another encounter with the Crossroads Keeper happened, Maeteris knew that these younger races would have to be her only company for a very long time.<p>

The elder sighed. "_Come, Maeteris, it should not be this hard. You know these people are not the brutish animals your people believe them to be,_" she told herself inwardly. "_Not even Gallardi. Especially him._"

Maeteris rubbed her shoulder absent-mindedly in the place where the imperial touched her on Horizon as he tried to comfort her. It was a small gesture but not an unwelcome one. The Farseer found extremely odd that the first person to comfort her after the mental trauma she suffered witnessing the death of her kind was someone she considered to be her enemy only a short time ago. Maybe it was because Gallardi was an odd person for a servant of the human Emperor. He was utterly loyal to his half dead god and his Imperium yet Gallardi was not blinded by zeal. He was a man of honor capable of distinguishing right from wrong, even among his own kind. The Imperium of Man should consider itself to be fortunate that it was August Gallardi who arrived in this dimension as he represented the more noble side of a dark and unforgiving Imperium.

And though many things about this dimension still rankled Gallardi, he has shown that he was capable of adapting to his new realities. And if he could do it then Maeteris could do it too. Sighing once again, the Farseer put up a straight face and opened her chamber's door. As she entered the main hall a silence descended and everyone present turned to look at Maeteris.

"There is no need to react at my entrance in such a way," Maeteris said as she slowly approached the main table.

Shepard was the first to recover as she smiled and spoke. "Sorry, it's just that the last time you've entered the mess hall like that we ended up on Horizon so part of me already expects some serious trouble," the Commander said. Immediately, she became more concerned. "There wouldn't be any serious trouble on Illium, right?"

Maeteris briefly looked at Gallardi and then back at Shepard. She saw the glimpses of what is going to happen on the asari colony and was aware that there will be conflict between these two. She was also aware that Shepard was about to meet her lover and that it wouldn't be a pleasant reunion. But these issues were something the humans will have to resolve by themselves so Maeteris decided not to mention it.

"There wouldn't be anything serious," the Farseer replied. She immediately corrected herself when she saw the dark haired woman, Lawson; enter the room with a perplexed expression on her face. "There might be some urgent business but only if you decide that the issue is worthy of your attention."

Shepard turned to look at Miranda and then back at Maeteris then at Miranda once again. "Miranda? Is everything alright?"

Miranda looked dubiously at Shepard as she tried to come up with a response. "How did you know that… Oh, I see," she looked at Maeteris and continued. "You already knew about that, didn't you? Do you know how it happened? How did he find out about her location?"

"You will not like my answer," Maeteris replied, amused by the human's demanding tone.

"Humor me," the woman crossed her arms. "There are only two people who knew everything about her location and identity and one of those two people is me."

"If so, why ask a question if the answer is so plainly obvious?" the Farseer asked.

"Are saying that… But why would…" Miranda stuttered. "No, you're wrong. He wouldn't have done that."

"If that is what you want to believe in then you should do so," Maeteris said. "However it will not change the truth."

The woman remained silent.

"Miranda, what is going on?" Shepard asked. "What are you two talking about?"

"I'm sorry, Commander. There is a personal issue I wanted to discuss with you," Miranda replied. "Later, in private."

Shepard tried to stand up. "Sure, let's talk about it."

Miranda immediately raised her arms as she tried to halt the Commander. "It isn't that critical, Shepard. Please enjoy your rest, we can discuss it later."

"You're sure?" Shepard asked.

"Absolutely," Miranda said with a nod.

Shepard nodded back and returned to her seat.

Maeteris walked further down the room towards where Jack was loudly consuming her food. She stopped near the young psyker and waited for the woman to stop chewing.

"What?" Jack asked as she looked up at Maeteris.

"As I've seen, you've managed to detect cloaked machines during combat," Maeteris stated. "Commendable. I think you're ready to take your studies further. We shall continue tomorrow."

"Alright! Er, I mean, whatever," Jack said as she tried to sound indifferent in order to look tough in the eyes of others. The Farseer was not fooled by this once again. She knew that the woman was positively excited to learn more.

"Maeteris, about our visit to Illium," Shepard said as the eldar returned back to where the Commander was sitting. "Both Kasumi and Kelly volunteered to be your guides and help buy everything you need. They both know the area very well."

The Farseer turned to look at both aforementioned women, who were both grinning excitedly as they looked back. "_A thief and a naïve spy,_" Maeteris thought. "_This is ought to be an interesting trip."_

"Thank you, I appreciate it," Maeteris told both her future guides and Shepard.

"Don't mention it," Shepard said. She then motioned to a fully-suited alien sitting next to her. "Um, Farseer this is our newest team member – Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Tali, this is Farseer Maeteris of the Craftworld Ulthwe."

The quarian stood up as she turned to greet Maeteris. "Oh, hello. Wow, I've just realized that I'm probably the first quarian you've seen. I should probably say something, right?"

"Do not concern yourself with protocol, child," Maeteris said simply. "You're looking at the only eldar you'll ever see so it is unlikely that our people will have any diplomatic relations."

"Y-yes, I've heard about that," Tali stuttered slightly. "I'm really sorry to hear that."

The Farseer tilted her head slightly to show gratitude and then turned to look at everyone assembled. Maeteris hesitated what to do next. She was a powerful Farseer of her people but right now she found herself at a loss on how to start a simple conversation. Among her kin it was easier - even though her status as a Farseer granted her a respectful attitude from other eldar, she still felt herself more or less equal and communication was easier.

Both humans and aliens aboard the ship did not view her as equal, more like some mythical being, a demigoddess. Most of them looked at her and waited for her to start spewing ancient wisdom or something like that. Except for Gallardi, of course. For him she was just another alien; a powerful alien, but Maeteris was certain he had seen more terrible things than her. As ironic as it sounded, he was probably the only person who would talk with her as an equal.

Deciding that her trying to mingle with the rest of the ship's crew was probably a bad idea, Maeteris decided to return to her chamber. She silently went to pick up some food before retiring. As Maeteris gathered everything she needed and was about to exit the main hall when Shepard called her out.

"Farseer, we all consider you part of our team and we would be honored if you stay and share your dinner with us," the Commander said with a broad smile. Most likely she somehow felt Maeteris' discomfort and decided to take the initiative.

Keeping a straight face she turned back to look at Shepard. "Only if my presence would not cause any discomfort," Maeteris said as she briefly looked at Gallardi.

The imperial looked at her with a raised eyebrow. He glanced at all other aliens present at the table before replying. "I think we are a bit past that, Farseer."

"Then I accept your invitation," Maeteris said as she started to approach the table.

Everyone present immediately rushed to free a place for her to sit at the table, close to Commander Shepard. Most likely they thought that any other place would cause offense. Maeteris didn't really care about it but it was good to know that humans understood etiquette.

Maeteris took her place and the dinner continued. Immediately she felt that all eyes were still glued on her. Anticipation and curiosity set the air around the Farseer tingling. They all had so many questions but they didn't voice them, once again afraid to cause offense. This time it was Maeteris' turn to take a first step.

"As I understand, evening story telling has become something of an unspoken tradition aboard this vessel," the Farseer stated.

There was some laughter at her remark.

"You could say that," Shepard said with a chuckle.

"And I think my turn has come," Maeteris said. "Very well, what do you wish to know?"

The questions started to rain immediately.

"Well, where should we start? You're a member of a civilization we've never seen or heard before. And tragically we never will," Shepard began. "Everything you'll tell us is interesting. What were your people like?"

"What was your homeworld like?" Kelly asked.

"Curious about eldar society structure," Mordin voiced his interest.

"Oh, and you've mentioned that some of your people might live to an age of several thousand years," Chakwas noted from her place. "Just how old your civilization is?"

"Your people must have fought great wars!" Grunt thundered. "Tell us of wars!"

Maeteris was silent for a moment. It might take ages to cover even the smallest part of eldar history with words. She immediately thought of a better idea.

"Excuse me for a moment," the Farseer said as she stood up and went to her chamber.

"I'm sorry Maeteris, did we..." Shepard began to apologize.

"Nothing is wrong, Commander," Maeteris said patiently. "But it would take a long time to tell a story of my people with words. I will show you instead."

* * *

><p><em>AN: As you understand there is going to be some eldar showing off at the start of the next chapter but then there will be a lot of asari hugs, asari winks, asari smooches, asari glomps, asari shopkeepers, asari stalkers... As you've probably already guessed our heroes will finally reach Illium and there will be a lot of asari... Did I mention that there will be asari in the next chapter?_


	15. Illium Adventures Part 1

_Author's Note: For those of you who don't know it already, I've created a forum here on FanFiction that is dedicated to this story. You can find the link in my profile. It will mostly act as my "Public Announcements" board where I will post messages about the status of the chapters. You can already find the reason for this last massive delay there. Long story short - I've received another job offer and while the job itself is good, it takes away most of my free time._

_Now, the replies to guest reviews:_

_Ardanwen: I'm glad that my story improves your mood so much. Also, I wanted to make it clear - I'm a guy, not a girl. You probably misunderstood my AN about my unwritten SI fic. _

_Jeremy Hollis: I'm glad that you liked my take on EDI. And yes, the encounter with the daemon will be different but your guess was not too far off...  
><em>

_Jetsmillion__: Oh, TIM is not going to like many things that will happen on the Normandy. :)  
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_Angry Marine guest: WHAT WAS THAT, BROTHER? SPEAK UP, I CANNOT HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF HOW ANGRY I AM! But seriously, you're awesome. Your comments always make my day. :)  
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_World: Don't worry, all those things will happen soon...  
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_To everyone else: Thank you for your comments and support.  
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_I also wanted to ask you not to post the "Y U NO UPDATE?" reviews, please. Thank you.  
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_Now, after some revelations in this chapter I can state that this story is officially AU. I know that as a crossover the story is AU by definition but now it's like an AU within the AU. :)  
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_Right, enough of this. Time to get back to our story.  
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><p><strong>Chapter 15: Illium Adventures Part 1<strong>

**Location: Normandy SR-2, Crew deck.**

Maeteris returned to her cabin and picked up the pouch holding her runes, fixing it onto her belt and returning to the mess hall. There was a general murmur there as everyone discussed her actions. Maeteris stopped in the center of the room and began placing the required runes in a perfect circle. Immediately, she felt the Imperial tense as he recognized the signs of psychic ritual.

"Do not be alarmed, Captain," Maeteris said, trying to assuage his suspicion. "It is indeed psychic sorcery, but it is harmless."

"Words like 'psychic sorcery' and 'harmless' rarely meet each other in the same sentence," the man said. He was little less tense this time but still alert.

"I'm aware of the dangers more than anyone else present," the Farseer replied. "Trust me, if this was dangerous then I would not have decided to do it."

She finished placing the runes on the floor and stood up. Maeteris looked at Shepard. "It would be best if we can dim the lights a little."

"EDI, reduce the general illumination in the mess hall, please," Shepard commanded.

The lights went out almost completely, leaving the room only slightly lit. Maeteris calmed her mind and then began channeling the energy to the runes. The runes lit up and began to float upwards. Maeteris raised her hands and with one graceful motion she ushered the floating runes into intricate dance. They spread around the room and started to flash, slowly at first, and then the frequency of flashes increased. At a certain point the flashing became so frequent that it looked like the runes were just shining brightly.

Suddenly, it stopped and after a small pause, another single bright light almost blinded everyone present. As the people's eyesight adjusted, they saw a perfect image of the Galaxy floating in the middle of the mess hall.

"Wow!" Kelly said as she and the rest of the crew stood up from their chairs and approached the image.

"EDI, tell me you're recording this," Shepard said, as she studied the image.

"I am, Commander," the AI replied. "If I may note, the image is of a superior quality, with enough zoom I can detect individual systems, and even planets. Whatever holographic technology Farseer Maeteris is using it is vastly more advanced than anything we have."

"These… runes, are they some kind of holographic emitters?" Miranda asked.

"They serve many purposes," Maeteris replied. "Illusion is one of them."

"So it's just an optical illusion then?" Gallardi asked. "You're not… messing with our heads?"

"There is no need for that," the Farseer shook her head. "Trying to influence so many minds at once only to tell a story is a foolish thing to do. More so is when some of your audience is capable of resisting such things."

Gallardi looked at Jack, probably thinking that Maeteris meant her, but he was wrong. Among the ship's crew both he and Shepard possessed the strongest minds.

"If this is 'just an optical illusion', then Houdini is probably rolling in his grave," Kasumi remarked.

"Him and the rest of the illusionists," Jacob said as he carefully waved his hand through one of the Galaxy's arms. "Huh, they look so real I half expected to get burned by one of those stars."

"_These humans are so easily impressed_," Maeteris thought to herself, then addressed everyone. "If you're ready, we can begin."

"Oh, right. Everyone shut up," Shepard said and gave Maeteris an apologetic smile. "Sorry Farseer, but this is something you don't see every day."

"Trust me when I say that you haven't seen anything yet," Maeteris stated. As her audience finally quieted down, the Eldar continued.

"You asked how old the Eldar civilization is?" The Farseer asked, looking at Dr. Chakwas. She shifted her gaze to the Krogan. "You also wished to hear about the wars my people fought. My story will answer both of these questions, for I shall tell you of the War in Heaven."

"Sounds spooky," Kenneth said quietly, only to get cuffed on the nape by Gabby.

"He is correct though, it was the bloodiest conflict our Galaxy has ever seen," Maeteris continued. "However, my kin were neither the instigators nor its major players. My people might be ancient by your measures for we already ruled the stars long before humanity… achieved its sentience."

"You just had to remind us of the fact, didn't you?" Gallardi muttered.

Maeteris sighed. "Believe it or not, I meant no insult. But no matter how you see it, the truth will always be the same – your people will always be older than, let's say, the Tau. And the Eldar will always be older than humans, although even my people were once nothing but younglings among the withered elders."

Maeteris waved her hand one more time and the projection of the Galaxy shifted as it started to zoom in on the location of an Eldar homeworld. It briefly showed the globe with its three moons and then Maeteris replaced the planet with a picture of another she once saw in the halls of memories.

"Much like any other sentient beings, my ancestors, first children of Isha and Kurnous, once inhabited the single world. Much like the others they have grown, prospered and flourished," Maeteris shifted through the images of ancient Eldar history she remembered from murals and history books and scrolls. "And one day, just like it was with everyone else, a single world was no longer enough for my kin and they surged to the stars, only to find the said stars were ruled by beings far more ancient than the Eldar, and that the Galaxy knew no peace as the War in Heavens consumed all it touched. A war between the Old Ones and the Necrontyr and their C'tan masters."

Maeteris used her memory to show the symbolic images of these ancient races: a giant bloated reptile and a hunchbacked deformed humanoid.

"Sorry if this sounds stupid, but who is who?" Shepard asked.

"I guess by Necrontyr she means the Necrons," Gallardi offered and pointed at the humanoid. "This one looks like them, but they don't resemble machines."

"That is because the Necrons are what the Necrontyr had eventually become," Maeteris told him. "They were not always like that."

"Wait, you mean they were not sentient machines from the beginning?" the Captain asked, genuinely surprised by this.

"No. They were creatures of flesh once, just like you, me and everyone else," Maeteris replied and used her mind to force the runes to show the image of the Galaxy again. Then the image started to zoom in on the probable location of the Necrontyr's homeworld.

"Far away, in the region called the Halo Stars by humans, the ancient civilization of the Necrontyr dwelled," Maeteris said. "They led a pitiful existence because of a cruel joke of fate; their patron star was harsh and deadly. It scoured the surface of their world with deadly radiation. It warped the bodies of the Necrontyr and made their lives extremely short and painful. They lived in the shadow of the giant obelisks the Necrontyr built to store the remains of their dead. Their entire cities were massive cemeteries."

"What a terrible existence," Kelly remarked quietly.

Maeteris smiled ironically. "Indeed, it might seem that they deserve nothing but pity. But countless trillions of deaths they would cause later beg us to disagree."

"What did they do?" Shepard asked and she pulled up a nearby stool to take a seat. "Hard to believe that someone who suffered so much would wish to make others suffer as well."

"Despite all odds, the Necrontyr managed to eventually achieve space flight and escape their terrible homeworld," Maeteris replied. "They've begun to slowly colonize other, less environmentally hostile worlds. However, it did not change their longevity much and their lives were still pathetically short. Especially if compared to the Old Ones."

"I take it that these 'Old Ones' are even more ancient than the Eldar," Gallardi said as he studied the reptile's image. "I've never seen any information about them in the Ordos Archives."

"Very few among your Inquisition know about the Old Ones," Maeteris replied. "My people believe that they were the first race to achieve sentience in our Galaxy. They were powerful psychic masters and their technology was so advanced that it looked like an arcane art to everyone else. But the most important thing was that they were an extremely long-living race, if not downright immortal. Essentially, it was their lifespan that first sparked the War in Heaven, for when the Necrontyr encountered the Old Ones, they became extremely jealous of the Old Ones lifespan. That jealousy soon turned into an all-consuming hatred and the Necrontyr turned their entire civilization towards destroying the Old Ones."

"They went to war only because these 'Old Ones' lived longer?" Miranda asked incredulously. "How can an entire race be so petty?"

"Agreed. Nothing wrong with a short lifespan," Mordin added. "Doesn't matter how long you live. What matters is how you live your life."

"It seems abnormal to us because we don't know their perspective," Kelly offered. "I mean, harsh environment breeds harsh character, and we can all agree that the Necrontyr had the worst kind of home. All that pain and suffering they had to endure while struggling to survive the deadly conditions of their homeworld might have pushed them over the edge and they started to perceive things differently. What we see as illogical and petty, they've seen as a normal, maybe even a just thing to do."

"Or maybe they just wanted a convenient excuse to start a war against a powerful rival," Shepard shrugged. She turned to Maeteris to ask. "So I guess your ancestors took the Old Ones side in this conflict?"

"Not at first; when the war began my people were still a very young race compared to the Old Ones and the Necrontyr. And there wasn't even need for us to join the war in the beginning," Maeteris explained and showed the images of the War in Heaven from old Eldar history books. "The Necrontyr were a technologically adept race but they still were completely by outmatched by the Old Ones. The conflict was remarkably one-sided: the Old Ones completely routed the Necrontyr and forced them to return to their blighted homeworld. There, they left the Necrontyr to their misery."

"They should have exterminated them when they had the chance," Gallardi stated.

"In the hindsight they most definitely should have," Maeteris agreed. "But the Old Ones were a benevolent race and believed all life to be sacred, even those of the Necrontyr. Perhaps they thought that after such a crippling defeat the Necrontyr would rethink their views, but they were wrong. The Necrontyr continued to hate Old Ones and they tirelessly searched for a weapon that would help them defeat the powerful ancients. That was how they discovered the C'tan."

"That's the second time you've mentioned the name," Gallardi said. "What are they, some other type of xenos?"

Maeteris couldn't help but chuckle. "You don't know? Truly, your inquisition likes to keep you in the dark. My people call these beings the Yingir. The Necrontyr called them the C'tan. Both words are translated as the Star Gods and they are the true masters of the Necron."

"When you say gods, you speak metaphorically, right?" Miranda asked carefully.

"No, because these beings are so powerful that no other term but a 'god' could properly describe them," Maeteris replied.

"These 'C'tan'… Are something akin to the Dark Gods?" Gallardi queried.

"In sense, yes. Both are beings of energy but where Dark Gods exist in the Warp as manifestations of dark emotional energy, they cannot exist in the material universe," Maeteris explained. "The C'tan are directly opposite of that, they are also beings of pure energy but they exist only in the material dimension. They are more ancient than even the Old Ones, they were born curing the moment of Creation."

"Creation of what?" Jack asked.

"I think she means the Moment of Creation," Chakwas told the young psyker. "The Big Bang. The moment when the Universe was born."

"Precisely. They formed from the vast, insensate energies first unleashed by Creation's churning mass of cataclysmic force. They were little more than monstrous energy parasites that suckled upon the solar energies of the stars that had brought them into existence, shortening the lives of otherwise main-sequence stars by millions of standard years," Maeteris explained. "Beings of pure energy, they paid no mind to the hunks of solid matter they passed in the vacuum of space, the blazing geothermal fires and weak geomagnetic fields of these nascent planets insufficient to be worth feeding even their ravenous hunger."

"It is unknown how the Necrontyr managed to attract their attention but they did it somehow. The Necrontyr knew that such diffuse minds could never perceive the material universe without manifesting themselves in a materal form, therefore they forged physical shells for the C'tan to occupy, cast from the living metal called necrodermis," the Farseer said. "As the C'tan became more manifest in their new physical bodies, they began to enjoy certain aspects of life more, including pain, suffering and slavery. They discovered a new source of energy the C'tan could consume – the life force of the living beings. The C'tan found out about the Necrontyr's war against the Old Ones and they offered the Necrontyr the tools to defeat their foe."

"With the power of the Star Gods at their back, the Necrontyr were ready to wage war against the Old Ones," Maeteris continued. "It was then that the cruel C'tan offered their last gift to the Necrontyr, something they craved for so long. They offered them to transfer their minds into bodies of necrodermis, similar to those the C'tan themselves had. The Necrontyr accepted without hesitation."

"Let me guess, it bit them in the arse," Zaeed smirked.

"Yes. The C'tan deceived them," the Farseer replied and told them how during the transfer of Necrontyr consciousnesses the C'tan feasted on the life force of an entire Necrontyr race. The C'tan consumed almost everything except for Necrontyr's hatred towards all other living beings. The Necrontyr received the immortal bodies they craved for so much but they lost their free will in the process. Thus they became the Necron – soulless machines, slaves to the will of the C'tan.

"This takes the phrase 'be careful of what you wish for' to a whole new level," Shepard muttered.

Maeteris nodded and continued. "With an army of loyal slaves, the C'tan went to conquer the Galaxy and consume the life energy of its inhabitants. My ancestors joined the war side by side with the Old Ones and countless other young races because there was no other choice. It was no longer a war between the Necrontyr and the Old Ones. It was now the C'tan against all living species."

Maeteris showed depictions of the war. "But no matter how courageously we fought the Necron and the C'tan were simply too powerful. In desperation, the Old Ones created new warrior races to battle for them, races like the rashan and the k'nib. Knowing that the C'tan were vulnerable to psychic energies, the Old Ones designed their warrior species to be psychically linked to the Immaterium."

"At first they've managed to turn the tide of war and push the C'tan back but then the Old Ones' solution became their undoing," Maeteris continued as continued to shift through the images. "The introduction of these warlike and psychic races into the galaxy had the side effect of warping the Immaterium - the war, pain, suffering and destruction of the galaxy unleashed during the conflict was reflected in the Immaterium, altering it into and intrinsically hostile psychic dimension and creating the Gods of Chaos in the process."

The Farseer heard quiet mutters after the last revelation. She also felt that Gallardi was fuming as he heard how the Dark Gods came to be.

"You want to blame the Old Ones for creating the Dark Gods?" Maeteris asked him.

"And you don't?" Gallardi asked in return. "They've made something that plagued the existence of both of our people for countless millennia. Emperor alone knows how different Mankind's history would have been."

"The Old Ones were desperate, they fought for their survival. Maybe you should blame the C'tan's insatiable hunger?" Maeteris asked him. "Or maybe you should blame the Necrontyr for showing the C'tan the material world? Or perhaps the blame lies with whatever forces that created the Universe in the beginning and then placed the Necrontyr on that accursed death trap they had as a home planet?"

Gallardi was silent for a moment before he finally relented. "Maybe you're right. So what happened next? Was it as bad as the Age of Strife?"

"Worse. The birth of Chaos Gods sundered the walls between the Warp and reality and the newly born daemons surged through the rifts between the two dimensions. They easily possessed the unsuspecting psykers and began annihilating the living population," Maeteris said and showed more pictures of that terrible time. "The C'tan were vindicated in their reliance on the technology that was not based on psychic powers. Yet as they watched the forces of the Old Ones and their allies consumed by the madness of Chaos, they understood that they were also defeated."

The Farseer told them how the C'tan understood that the remaining living population was not large enough to sate their hunger. Therefore they decided to enter hibernation on various Tomb Worlds scattered across the stars, where they would sleep until the galaxy was filled with enough sentient beings that the C'tan could feed upon them once more.

"When the madness from the Dark God's birth finally subsided the surviving species started anew. The Old Ones were gone – some say they were completely annihilated, others believe that some of them managed to escape to another Galaxy," Maeteris said and showed a fading image of the Old Ones. "This allowed my people to rise as the Galaxy's new dominant race. The Age of the Old Ones was over and the Age of the Eldar began."

Maeteris told them the stories how the Eldar quickly became the rulers of the Galaxy, mainly because they were able to use the Webway left by the Old Ones to swiftly spread across the Galaxy. The Webway quickly attracted the attention of Mordin as he asked to elaborate the term.

"The Webway is an extra-dimensional my kind uses for faster-than-light travel. It was originally created by the Old Ones until my people took it over. We even expanded it further," Maeteris replied and showed the rough map of the Webway. "Imagine it as a vast and tangled network of doorways between fixed points in real space. It is somewhat similar to the relay network known to you, only most of the Webway gates are located on planets."

"Neat trick, no need to take a ship to travel towards the relay," Shepard noted. "Um, I know it's probably too much to hope for but… You wouldn't accidentally know how to build such Webway gates? An alternative way of interstellar travel would be very useful in the war against the Reapers."

Maeteris shook her head. "The secret of the construction of the large gates that allow traveling between planets was lost to my people at a… certain point of our history. However, we still know how to construct smaller gates that allow faster travel within a range of one planet and yes, I know the principle of such gate."

"That is still a very useful thing to have," Garrus said. "Being able to quickly redeploy troops from one continent to another…"

"I don't wish to disappoint you any further but I must. I said I know how to create one but it doesn't mean I can," the Farseer interrupted him. "There is something you must know about the way my people craft things."

She then spent some time explaining the principle of wraithbone shaping craft and what is required for it.

"So, you summon this material, 'this wraithbone' from the Immaterum and then shape it with music?" Tali asked, clearly in awe from such advanced technology.

"That and a rather specific psychic talent. Not all Eldar psykers possess one," Maeteris replied. "Unfortunately I'm one of those who don't."

"So, when some builds a house, you don't hear the banging of hammers or whine of the machinery. You hear music?" Kelly said with a sigh. "Your cities must be a beautiful thing to live in."

"Yes, they are," Maeteris replied and showed them the image of a city on Ulthwe.

There were awed murmurs as they studied the elaborate Eldar architecture. Chakwas was the first to ask the next question.

"I hope you don't think I'm too persistent but you haven't exactly answered my question. Just how old your civilization is?"

"Old enough to see other, lesser civilizations rise and fall," Maeteris replied proudly. "In your human years the civilization of Eldar lasted for over 60 million years starting from the fall of the Old Ones."

There was a deafening silence in the mess hall. Several people sat down on their chairs as they tried to stomach the information. Even Gallardi looked impressed.

"I guess that explains the attitude," the Imperial shrugged.

"I'm glad that you finally understand that," Maeteris said with a smirk.

"However it is Mankind who rules the greater part of the Galaxy right now, not the Eldar," Gallardi said with a satisfied smile.

"Oh, really?" Maeteris asked, quirking her eyebrows. "Maybe that happened because my kin were more tolerant to the presence of other races and didn't destroy your kind when you just started spreading across the stars?"

Gallardi shrugged one more time. "It's your loss. The Imperium wouldn't have hesitated to do it."

"I'm sure it wouldn't have," Maeteris replied and pretended to study the nails on her hand. "You weren't able to crush those Tau upstarts if remember correctly."

"No, we didn't," the Captain said, raising his voice slightly. "We didn't only because there were a bit more pressing matters, like the invasion of not one, but two Tyranid Hive Fleets!"

"Should we leave you two alone for a moment?" Shepard asked suddenly in a cheerful tone.

"What?" both Maeteris and Gallardi turned to ask her and became aware that the room was filled with barely contained laughter.

"I'm sorry but if didn't know better, I would've thought you're an old married couple," Shepard replied with a grin.

"Of course we aren't…" both Gallardi and Maeteris replied simultaneously. They turn glare at each other. "Would you please let me…," this one was also simultaneous. "Ah, never mind!"

The last phrase was also said by both of them at the same time and the rest of the crew could not resist any longer as they all burst with hearty laughter.

"Oh, please don't stop on our account," Jack, as expected, could not simply let it be. "Fights like this always end up with reunion sex. Hot, steamy…"

Shepard gasped and punched the young woman in the shoulder. "Jack, that's a bit too far," she looked around and clapped her hands several times. "Right people, enough is enough. We're making our friends here a bit too uncomfortable."

Small part of Maeteris wanted her to be angry at these people but she knew it would be pointless to be mad at people who simply had a rather vivid imagination. Therefore she simply took a deep breath to calm herself. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Gallardi doing exactly the same thing.

The Farseer then looked at her audience once again. "Do you have any other questions?"

"I don't know, I'm still trying to get over the fact that your people existed for such a long time," Kasumi said. "I mean, I thought that you were ancient, maybe a hundred thousand years, half a million tops. But sixty million?"

There were several murmurs of agreement around the mess hall. Surprisingly, Grunt was the next one to speak.

"So if your people ruled the Galaxy for so long, someone must have challenged your right to rule. Who were your strongest enemies?"

"True, many have tried to challenge the Eldar over the course of our history," Maeteris replied. "Few survived. For the most part the Necron still remained our greatest enemy. Most of them remained in hibernation but occasionally some would awake and send a scouting party to see if the Galaxy was once again full of life. We sometimes destroyed those forces and made their destruction look like it was made by natural means. Or through the use of illusions we misled the Necrons into thinking that the galaxy was still largely empty, thus forcing them to return into hibernation."

Maeteris paused for a moment before adding. "Then, there were also the Orks. There were always Orks."

"Wait, you're not saying that the greenskins are as ancient as you are?" Gallardi asked incredulously.

The Farseer smiled slightly. "I know how strange that is; even my kin wonders how it is possible. They existed as long as we did, there were even several notions of them in the old legends of War in Heaven. However they didn't evolve in the slightest way. The Orks my ancestors fought against are the same Orks you and I fought."

"Impossible!" Mordin exclaimed.

"Professor?" Shepard asked him as everyone looked at the Salarian.

"Lack of any evolutional process over the course of such a long period," Mordin said, clearly agitated by this revelation. "Defies all of the evolution theories we currently have!"

"The Orks as a rule are rather… reason defying creatures," Maeteris said.

"No! Not over such a long time!" Mordin persisted. "Even Vorcha show signs of evolution and increase of intellect and they are one step away from animals."

He then looked at Gallardi. "When are the translation of your documents will be complete?"

The Captain looked slightly taken aback by Salarian's almost demanding tone. "EDI said it would take at least one day to…"

"I apologize for interrupting, Captain," EDI popped in. "But the translation of certain documents are already complete. Documents containing the species called 'the Orks' are among those translated."

Seeing almost pleading expression on Mordin's face, Gallardi shrugged. "Well, I guess you can send them over to Professor Solus."

"Sending the data now," EDI replied.

"Much appreciated, Captain," Mordin said and immediately dashed towards the elevator. Halfway out of the mess hall he turned to address Maeteris. "Apologies, Farseer. I am certain that further history is very interesting, but I simply must study these Orks further."

Maeteris shook her head. "No apology is necessary."

"Good. Talk later," Mordin said and left the room.

"Heh, a nerd with a badge," Jack chuckled.

"Can't say that I'm not curious too," Jacob said and turned to look at Maeteris. "Uh, you've shown us both Necrontyr and the Old Ones. I wonder if you could show us the Orks too."

"Certainly," the Farseer replied. She picked up a memory from her days as a warrior of the Howling Banshees. The scene she showed them depicted a force of Eldar ambushing the Ork war band. In the center of the image was Maeteris' old commander, Exarch Sezem, who was gracefully decapitating an Ork with her Executioner halberd. A couple of Swooping Hawks were also seen in the air as they dodged their crude Orkish counterparts.

Shepard leaned closer. "Wow, this one is much more vivid! Is it…"

"My personal memories, yes," Maeteris replied quickly.

Kasumi giggled. "I'm seeing and part of my mind still refuses to believe it. I mean, Orks! Green Orks from space!"

"I think I start to understand Mordin's desire to understand these creatures," Miranda said. "Look at their weapons. We have more advanced pieces of weaponry in our museums."

"Yeah, but those guns look like they could pack quite punch," Jack argued. "Who needs a fancy gun when you can carry small cannon as a side arm?"

"You're still more likely to be killed by a ricochet or by a bullet fired by an Ork who wasn't aiming at you than by a straight shot," Gallardi said. "Orks are not known for their accuracy. Sometimes I think they shoot only for the sake of creating a lot of loud noises."

"Never mind their guns, look at Ork in the sky," Jacob noted. "He has a rocket strapped to his back and he uses it as a jump pack!"

"And look how starkly they contrast with those beautiful Eldar warriors," Kelly said, her eyes full of adoration.

"I don't see any exhaust flames from their jump packs," Gallardi turned to look at Maeteris. "Personal anti-grav devices?"

"Correct, the grav-wings of the Swooping Hawks allow them to soar into the sky with ease," Maeteris confirmed.

"Swooping Hawks, huh," the Imperial said and continued to study the flying aspect warriors.

"These Orks, they look strong and fierce yet your kind is not afraid of facing them in close combat," Grunt said and looked at the Farseer. "I like your people, Eldar."

There was a small pause in the conversation before Shepard decided to ask another question.

"So, if it is not impolite of me to ask, it is clear that your people were a dominant race for such a long time, what caused your downfall?"

Maeteris knew she could not tell them the truth. For every Eldar the Fall was a source of great sorrow and shame. Perhaps it was best that she tells the crew some elaborate lie to satisfy their curiosity. They would never find out the truth in any case.

"Another tale, for another time," Maeteris said and dismissed the illusion, getting a chorus of disappointed moans. The runes floated back to Maeteris' outstretched hand and she tucked them back into her pouch. "Suffice it to say that just like with the Old Ones, our age has come to an end. And that is my lesson to all of you."

"What lesson?" Shepard asked as the lights in the room returned to their usual level.

"That no matter how advanced the race is, no matter for how long they rule their empire, no matter how strong their grip on the Galaxy is – one day it will all end," Maeteris said. "The reasons for downfall may differ but it is inevitable. Such is the way of things."

"Way to spoil the mood in the end," Jack said. "No matter what we do, it doesn't matter shit on the long run."

The crew of the Normandy began to murmur quietly among themselves.

"It depends how you interpreted what she said," Gallardi said as he stared intently at Maeteris.

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked him.

"There is a saying among the Ordo Xenos about the Eldar: ask not the Eldar a question for they will offer you three answers. Each of those will be true and each of them will terrify you," the Imperial replied as he looked at the Commander. "It means that when an Eldar speaks, there is always a hidden meaning to what he or she says. Nothing is always straight."

He looked back at Maeteris. "You wanted to tell us that all species will one turn into dust but didn't mean only those present. You were also talking about the Reapers."

Maeteris remained still for a moment before she smiled slightly and clapped her hands several times. "Very good, Captain. You've managed do guess my intent correctly."

The man simply shrugged. "I have my moments."

"It would seem so," Maeteris nodded and turned to address the rest of the crew. "Indeed, I also meant our greatest foe in this war. The time will come when your efforts will seem futile, and the Reapers' victory would seem inevitable. If so, remember this day and my story and remind yourself that beings far more powerful than the Reapers fell. And Reapers will also fall one day."

The mood in the room improved immediately. Only Jack remained the usual self and huffed indignantly. "You could have just told us without all these mind games and shit."

"Jack," Shepard hushed the biotic. "Thank you, Farseer it was a very novel experience."

The Commander started to applaud and soon the rest of the crew joined her. Even Gallardi. With obvious reluctance, of course.

"It was my pleasure," Maeteris bowed slightly. "I suggest that we all get some rest now. It will be a busy day tomorrow."

* * *

><p><em>Next morning, Illium's orbit, Normandy's cockpit…<em>

Victoria was standing behind Joker's seat dressed in her full armor. It was not the best choice of clothing to be operating in on a civilized world, but Shepard had some rather urgent business to attend to. Business that would likely to involve the use of guns.

Last night she went to talk to Miranda about her personal favor. Her XO looked rather uncomfortable with asking Shepard about it, probably because it had nothing to do with their current mission but it was clearly important to Miranda. Turns out, Miranda was not the only one to escape from her father. She has a sister, Oriana, although the term 'biological twin' would be more correct. Miranda took Oriana with her to ensure that she didn't have to suffer the same father's cruelty Miranda had to endure.

It also finally revealed to Victoria the main reason as to why Miranda joined Cerberus. They offered protection for her and Oriana. And while Miranda had to work with extremists, Oriana lived a normal life on Illium, just like Miranda wanted her to.

However, somehow Miranda's father finally managed to track them down. And while he certainly would try to mess with Cerberus to get his hands on Miranda, Oriana was well within his reach. Therefore, Miranda managed to arrange a transfer of Oriana and her parents to another location, and Miranda wanted Shepard's help in overseeing the transition because her father's men were already getting close.

Victoria only took three more people with her on this one; everyone else was busy with various chores around the Normandy. Garrus needed to stay and oversee the delivery and installation of the Normandy's new main weapon. Tali also stayed because, well, she was the Chief Engineer.

Grunt's armor was still in repair and that left him and Jacob on the Normandy. Shepard made a mental note to herself to find another suit of armor for Grunt while they were on Illium.

Mordin was of course still busy studying the Orks. When Victoria went to see him she realized that he probably didn't go to sleep the day before. He muttered something about being very close and Shepard decided not to interrupt his studies.

Kasumi and Kelly were helping Maeteris with her shopping trip. This left Gallardi, Jack and Zaeed as the only free ground team members. Shepard figured that it should be enough.

However it wasn't Miranda's personal issues that worried Victoria the most. As she looked at the rising spires of Illium she could only think about one person.

Liara. Before her talk with Miranda, Victoria planned to find Liara as soon as possible. Shepard longed to see her again and also wanted to finally know where she and Liara now stood.

And no matter how their meeting will go, Liara was also an information broker and could probably help them locate the two remaining recruits. But it seemed that all these things would have to wait until they deal with Miranda's sister.

"We're approaching our designated dock, Commander," Joker reported from his seat. "Five minutes out."

"Good, carry on," Shepard said and turned back to look at her team. She also noticed Maeteris moving through the corridor, quickly followed by both Kasumi and Kelly. Although the Farseer was once again wearing her armor only partially (minus the wings and the helmet), Shepard was sure that she is going to attract a lot of attention.

"If you're worried about me attracting attention, Commander, then you should not," Maeteris stated simply. The next moment her eyes started to glow and with a bright flash the Eldar changed her appearance. She was now wearing an austere black robe with simple but elegant white ornament adorning its sleeves and hem. The last detail was the crying eye symbol at the center of the Farseer's chest. She also wore a cowl that hid her trademark ears from sight.

"But… If you can do that, why do you need other clothes?" Kelly asked as both she and Kasumi stared at her new image. "It looks fabulous."

"This is but an illusion. I can sustain it for some time but not indefinitely," Maeteris replied. "It would be foolish to waste my powers on something so trivial."

Kasumi carefully poked Maeteris' arm. "Oh! Seriously, you can feel her armor instead of fabric. However this is definitely a better choice of clothing for Nos Astra's fashion district, although you'll still turn a lot of heads if you ask me."

"A lot is better than all of them," Shepard said. She felt the Normandy shudder slightly, which meant that they finally docked. "Alright, let's go. EDI, can you give me Garrus, please?"

"Go ahead, Commander," EDI replied.

"Garrus, you're in charge of the Normandy while I'm out," Shepard told him over the ship's com. "Make sure you don't mess her up too badly."

"Don't worry, I'm too scared of Tali getting angry to do anything," Garrus joked from his end. "Don't hesitate to call us if you run into trouble."

"Will do, Shepard out," Victoria said and started to walk towards the airlock.

As they exited the Normandy, Victoria immediately spotted an elegantly dressed Asari approach them, flanked by two LOKI mechs.

"Trouble?" Gallardi asked Shepard quietly.

"With a dress like that? I don't think so," Victoria smirked.

The Asari finally reached them and with a bright smile introduced herself. "Greetings, Spectre Shepard. My name is Kareena, I represent the starport's authorities and it is my honor to welcome you to Nos Astra."

"Thank you, the honor is mine," Shepard replied. "As I understand this is about payment for the use of the dock. Miss Lawson, my XO, will…"

"Oh no, all the necessary payments have already been made for you as soon as your ship reached Illium's orbit," Kareena interrupted. "I'm here to facilitate the necessary measures for the works you've scheduled to be performed on your ship."

"The payments were already made?" Victoria asked. "By whom?"

"Why, by your accomplice, Liara T'Soni," Kareena replied. "I thought you knew."

"Oh, right. Liara," Shepard chuckled nervously. "She likes surprises."

"Ah, I see. I'm certain you're eager to see her," Kareena nodded. "Her office is not far from here, you can use taxi service or simply take a walk."

"Thank you," Victoria said. "And about the Normandy, you can contact either Garrus Vakarian or Chief Engineer Tali'Zorah vas Neema."

Kareena nodded and started to walk towards the Normandy. It was then Victoria noticed that the Asari looked curiously at Maeteris and the Eldar was looking back. Kareena passed them but still kept looking back over her shoulder.

"Do you see it?" Maeteris suddenly asked as she leaned closer to Jack.

"Yeah, I always did, but I thought it was normal," Jack nodded. "Now it's… brighter, I guess. Does that mean…"

"I suppose, though I will need to look at the others but I think it will only confirm it," Maeteris replied. "You may not feel it but I do. This whole planet feels more… alive to me."

"What are you two talking about?" Shepard stepped closer.

"We think that the Asari are psykers, Shepard," Jack replied. "Probably every last one of them."

"Psykers would not be the term I'd use," the Farseer shook her head. "Their potential is very limited. Compared to this Kareena, Jack can be considered a giant. But yes, the potential is most likely present in every Asari. Similar to my kind in a way, although it might still take them hundreds of generations to reach the Eldar level. It also might explain their way of procreation and ability to meld minds."

"They thought it had something to do with their biotics?" Miranda asked.

"If so then how come that neither you nor any other human biotic except Jack had ever manifested similar abilities?" Maeteris asked in return. "No, they are psychically attuned beings."

"So what does this means for us?" Gallardi asked her.

"Next to nothing, their abilities are so basic that I doubt they could use it for anything else but procreation and mind melding," Maeteris replied. "At this point it is but a curious revelation, nothing more."

"Curious wouldn't be the word I'd use," Gallardi said as he cautiously looked around.

"They will not start throwing warp-fire or get possessed by daemons all of a sudden, trust me," Maeteris tried to calm him down. "We may proceed."

As they went further inside the terminal, Victoria leaned closer to Miranda.

"Tell me honestly, Miranda, when you chose this dock for Normandy you knew that Liara was working nearby?"

The brunette nodded. "I thought you would appreciate being able to reach her quickly."

"I do, I really do," Shepard said. She rapped her knuckles on her chestplate. "You could've warned me though, so that I could change into something more appropriate."

"I wanted to but this whole business with my sister came up so suddenly," Miranda replied. "I'm sorry, I just wanted it to be done as soon as possible. If you wish to return and…"

"Don't worry, Miranda, your sister is still our top priority for the moment," Victoria assured the woman. "But do you think we could at least stop by and say hello?"

"Certainly, we still have some time before our meeting with Lanteia," Miranda nodded. "Come, I know the address."

* * *

><p>August tried his best not to look nervous but it was hard. And his nervousness had little to do with the latest revelation about the Asari nature. No, this entire place made him edgy. This city, Nos Astra, could be classified as a small hive city by Imperial standards, except there was little 'Imperial' about it. There was no familiar angular architecture, everything was so smooth and clean and sparkling. And the city was not filled humans but with aliens. A lot of aliens that were not hostile.<p>

That is what unnerved him the most. As he walked he tried to make as little noise as possible and kept checking the windows for snipers.

"Still a bit edgy about the Asari, Captain?" Shepard asked him.

"No, it's not that," Gallardi shook his head. "It's just that… Here I am. On an alien world in the middle of alien city. And I'm not being fired at."

They entered the starport's main terminal and the noise of hundreds of living beings assaulted Gallardi's hearing. He saw crowds of people, mostly Asari but other races as well, including humans. They were wandering around doing all sorts of things like talking, browsing through stores and entertaining their children. But no fighting.

"You would feel more comfortable if people were shooting at you," Shepard asked.

"Honestly? Yes, that would be more natural," Gallardi nodded. He noticed several groups of armed and armored people in different outfits. "There are a lot of armed people here."

"Illium's in on the edge of the Terminus Systems," Massani answered. "Mercs and smugglers frequently visit the place."

"And the local security isn't worried about them?" August asked him.

"Local police mostly consists of the Asari," Zaeed replied. "Not the best idea to cause trouble where even a simple patrolwoman could hurl you into a wall with her mind."

"No, I guess it isn't," Gallardi said and looked once more at the crowds of Asari. He then noticed that many of Asari were looking at the group. Or to be precise they were looking at Maeteris.

"The Asari are staring at you, Farseer," he said quietly. "They probably managed to see through your disguise."

"They did not. Their nascent psychic abilities allow them to see something in me but they are not sure what it is. I can sense their confusion even from here," Maeteris said and that added in slightly playful tone. "You should probably note that some of them actually more interested in you."

August looked around and indeed noticed several Asari study him with obvious interest. One of them even _winked_ at him. Gallardi shook his head and groaned, wishing to be a bit less noticeable than his Harakoni origin made him.

"I was wrong, however," Maeteris continued. "It seems that they do have one more distinct psychic ability."

"What is it?" Kelly asked her.

"They seem to possess a passive aura that makes them more alluring in the eyes of others," the Farseer replied.

"Seriously? Are you sure about this?" Miranda asked, slightly incredulous.

"Why do you think members of so many different species find them attractive?" Maeteris asked. "Including those with completely different preferences in beauty like the Krogan, volus, hanar and elcor?"

"So they are what, shape shifting or something?" Zaeed asked. "Everyone sees a different version of the Asari?"

"No, nothing that elaborate," the Farseer shook her head. "It's more of a… subtle suggestion to pay attention to things that you would find attractive in your partner. I've touched the minds of other species present and I saw that Salarians appreciate the skin tone of the Asari. The Turians – fringes and waists. And the humans… Well, you don't need me to tell what humans find attractive in Asari."

Jack snorted. "Boobs and asses, what else?"

"That is a dirty stereotype. There many other beautiful human features to be found in Asari," Kelly argued. "I, for once, pay more attention to eyes and hands."

"Whatever," Jack waived her hand and turned to address Maeteris. "So, what's your kink?"

"What is my what?" Maeteris asked, confused by the term.

"You say all other species find something attractive in squidheads," Jack elaborated. "What do you find attractive?"

"Nothing. First, they are all females," the Farseer replied plainly. "And second, they lack visible ears."

"Ears, huh? Why am I not surprised?" Jack said. She nudged Gallardi with her elbow and whispered. "Pay attention, big guy. You might learn something useful."

August could only sigh in resignation. He didn't even bother to dignify Jack's teasing with response; it would only encourage her.

The group finally exited the spaceport's terminal and entered a great open plaza. Gallardi tried his best not to gape as he took the sight in. It wasn't the architecture that caught his attention but the civilian transport. Dozens of aircars were landing and taking off every moment. August looked to the sky and almost stopped dead.

Anti-grav technology wasn't a very common thing in the Imperium of Man. Some worlds never saw vehicles with anti-grav engines while worlds like Glavia, Harakon and Elysia had them in abundance. However, even though a grav-glider was a rather common sight on Harakon it all paled in comparison to what he saw in the sky of Illium.

There were hundreds, if not thousands of aircars, all moving in neatly organized lines to avoid collision. Either the Asari were extremely wealthy people or the abundance of element zero made such things like aircars a rather mundane thing that almost everyone could afford to have one. Gallardi guessed it was probably the latter. This also made him remember another particular use of anti-grav technology. August made a mental note to himself to ask either EDI or Mordin whether people here had something similar.

"Dr T'Soni's office is in the trade center across the plaza," Gallardi heard Miranda say as she pointed at the impressive building.

So, they were about to meet Shepard's alien lover. Gallardi knew that the issue would arise one day, it had to. A couple of weeks ago he would've been disgusted by this but now, after seeing the Commander in action August was prepared to give her a benefit of doubt. It wasn't like Shepard was unique in this regard. August had been on Illium for several minutes and he already witnessed seven human-Asari pairs of both genders.

Therefore, so long as Shepard's relationship with this Asari did not diminish her as a soldier of mankind, August figured that it was not really his business and he could just ignore it.

* * *

><p>They finally arrived at Liara's office. Victoria stopped right before the stairs that led to the office's receptionist as she tried to muster her courage.<p>

"Go, Shepard. We'll wait for you here," Miranda said behind her.

Victoria turned to look at her. "Yeah, thanks. You sure we have time?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes, we do. Now go."

"Right," Victoria nodded and went upstairs.

As she approached the reception, the secretary looked up. "Greetings, ma'am. How can I… Oh, Spectre Shepard. Welcome, it is such an honor to meet you in person."

"Thank you. I'm looking for Liara T'Soni, I'm told that this is her office," Shepard said with a nod. "Is she busy?"

"Madam T'Soni is busy now, but I certain she will be delighted to see you," the secretary replied with what Shepard thought was a knowing look. "Please, follow me."

They went deeper inside until they reached the door. The Asari opened the door and Victoria finally saw Liara. She was standing with her back to the office entrance and looking at a hologram of a rather pissed of man.

"The information you've gathered is worthless!" the man protested. "There must be more, you just didn't look too thoroughly! Why should I pay you the rest of the money?"

"Because our contract says so," Liara replied in a cold, steely tone. Shepard wasn't used to hearing her talk like that; she sounded more like her late mother, Benezia, than the shy scientist Victoria remembered.

"Let me put it simply for you," Liara continued. "If you do not pay, I will flay you alive. With my mind."

With that she ended the communication. Shepard wondered what to say and then she simply decided to try and be her usual self.

"So, Liara. You know how to flay people alive with biotics? You'll have to teach me that trick sometime."

Liara whirled around immediately. "Goddess…"

Victoria grinned. "No, it's just me."

"Nixeris, hold my calls," Liara ordered as she started to approach Shepard.

"Yes, ma'am," the secretary, Nixeris, bowed and stepped out of the office.

Liara slowly approached Victoria. She raised her hand and touched Shepard's face as if she tried to determine if the woman before her was real. Victoria raised her own hand and pressed the palm of Liara's arm to her cheek, reveling in familiar warmth and texture of her lover's skin. They stood like that for a few seconds and for a moment Victoria thought that everything is going to be alright.

Suddenly Liara gasped and pulled away, covering her mouth with her hand. The Asari looked like she had seen the ghost as she backed away from Victoria.

"Liara?" Shepard asked confused by her actions. "Honey, what is wrong?"

Liara didn't reply. She quickly turned around and went out on her office's balcony. Victoria quickly followed her and found Liara leaning against the railing and gasping for air.

"Hey," Shepard said as she approached the Asari. She quickly took off her glove and placed a hand on Liara's hand. "Talk to me, Liara. Please."

"It is you. It is really you, Shepard," Liara sighed heavily. "I have heard rumors, I have gathered every slip of information about you but a small part of me still refused to believe it, thought that you were some impostor. But now I see that it is really you."

"That's a good thing, right?" Shepard asked her.

Liara turned and smiled weakly. "It is a wonderful thing. It is just that… The last time I have touched was the day you…" Liara broke off and looked away.

Victoria immediately hated herself for making Liara remember that accursed day. "I'm sorry Liara…"

"What are you sorry for?" Liara turned to look at Victoria, her voice sympathetic. "You sacrificed your own life to save Joker. There is nothing you should be sorry for."

"I'm sorry for putting you through all this, Liara," Shepard told her.

Liara turned to look at the vista that opened up from her balcony. "It was hard. First mother. Then you. I struggled to find the reason to go on but…"

Victoria steeled herself. Somehow she knew what Liara was going to say next.

"It's been two years, Victoria. I… some things have changed," Liara said and by her it was obvious that it was not easy for her.

Shepard felt as if everything fell deep inside her. She knew that she should have expected this but she still held to faintest hope that things will get back to the way they were. Of course, seeing Liara now Victoria knew she would never understand how hard it was for Liara to carry on. For Shepard it has been just a month, but for Liara it was more than two years. If she managed to move on then perhaps it was for the best if Shepard tried to move on too.

"I am so sorry, Victoria," Liara added after a pause. "You're back but I know that you're hunting the Collectors. If something happens to you I am not sure that I…"

She let out a shuddering sigh and closed her eyes. Shepard immediately moved closer to try and comfort her.

"Hey, it's okay, Angel Eyes," Shepard said soothingly. "I understand."

Liara turned to look at Victoria, her eyes glistening slightly. "I… Thank you, it means a lot to me."

They hugged each other warmly.

Once they broke their embrace, Shepard quickly tried to change the subject as she looked around Liara's office. "So, Liara. An information broker? I must say it's unexpected."

"I suppose it is," Liara nodded. "Ever since you were gone, it all fell apart. At first I wondered if I should return to my studies of the protheans but I quickly decided that it was a foolish thing to do. So called up a few of my mother's contacts and tried to establish just who attacked us near Alchera. That was how I found out about the Collectors. I've tried to gather some information about them and see if they were somehow connected with the Reapers."

"There is very little information about them and I soon found out why. It appears that the Collectors are somehow allied with the Shadow Broker," Liara continued as she took a seat at her desk and offered Victoria to sit as well.

"Yeah, he tried to recover my body and give it to the Collectors," Shepard said with a nod. "But someone beat him to it and turned me over to Cerberus."

Liara looked slightly uncomfortable when Victoria mentioned her body's recovery. "Yes, I've heard that the Shadow Broker posted a bounty on you. This is more the reason for me to try and bring him down."

"The Shadow Broker is a very dangerous enemy to have, Liara," Shepard warned.

"Yes. But so were Saren and Sovereign," Liara countered. "Yet you've managed to defeat them."

"That was different. I didn't do it alone," Victoria said. "Maybe you can come back to Normandy, it will be much safer there and…"

"And I would be able to effectively use my contacts while I'm on the Normandy," Liara shook her head. "I'm not doing this all by myself, Shepard. I have my own informants, field agents, even some hired muscle."

"I see," Shepard said and sighed. "Well if that is what you wish then so be it. But if ever need help…"

"You will be the first person I'll turn to," Liara said with a slight smile. "The same thing goes for you too. I'm certain that Cerberus has an extensive information network but even they don't know everything. If you need any help with information, do not hesitate to ask."

"Actually, I do, yes," Shepard said with a nod. "There are two people I'm looking for and Cerberus says they are somewhere on Illium…"

* * *

><p>Maeteris was looking down at the trade center's main floor as she and the rest of the team were waiting for Shepard to finish her meeting with her Asari lover. The trade center, much like the rest of the city, was somewhat similar to Imperial hive-city, albeit much cleaner and with less oppressive architecture. The Farseer found it to be slightly ironic that even here she had to conceal her identity, although on Imperial world she had to do it to avoid being killed and here she had to do it to avoid needless attention.<p>

At first Maeteris thought that the Asari were too frivolous and inconsistent but she knew she should review her first assumptions. They were a young race and all young races shared similar traits – they were foolish and naïve but also eager and curious. The Asari's open-mindedness could also be explained by their nature as mono-gendered species – they were never too restrained towards each other. From their viewpoint it was the rest of the galaxy who were too close-minded and too fixated on matters of privacy.

As strange as it was, Maeteris could not deny that she felt a certain kinship with these beings. It was faint but there. The Asari lived just as the average Eldar and now the Farseer knew that they were also psychically potent race, much like her people. They also seem to prefer to avoid direct conflict and use others to achieve their goals.

However, there were certain other similarities between the two races that made Maeteris vary. The Asari lifestyle was not as strict as the lifestyle of the craftworld Eldar. True, it was nowhere near the perverse state of the pre-Fall Eldar empire and it might take thousands upon thousands of years for the Asari to reach a similar level of decadence but the signs were already there. Perhaps with the right guidance they can be steered away from this dark path and avoid making the same mistake the Eldar once made. Not just for the Asari's sake but that of all other sentient beings as well.

"_Listen to yourself, Maeteris. You've started thinking like Eldrad Ulthran,_" Maeteris thought and smiled inwardly.

She felt Gallardi approach and stop left of her as the man also started looking down at the mingling Asari. Maeteris felt that he was still perturbed by the Asari psychic powers.

"I do not need to divine the future to guess your next question, Captain," Maeteris told him.

"If that is so then I suppose you already have the answer," Gallardi turned to look at her. "Just how powerful this psychic aura of the Asari is?"

"Not as powerful as you think it is," the Farseer replied. "As I said it simply makes them more attractive to others. They do not enthrall people, only the most powerful psykers can do that."

"Attraction can be a powerful thing too. Remember Shepard on Bekenstein?" Gallardi reminded her.

"Indeed, however if you remember correctly it did not work for everyone," Maeteris replied. "Let me put it this way: do you find the Asari irresistible?"

"Of course not, they're aliens!" the man relied automatically.

"Gallardi, I am not your inquisitor or a commissar, you do not have to give me such reply," Maeteris told him. "Your honest opinion, if you please."

Gallardi was silent for a moment before he replied. "No. They might look like humans but the scales and head tentacles remind me too much of mutants. I could never find them attractive, and I can't imagine why others do."

"Then that is your answer: their aura cannot force you to like them because of your strong convictions. Their ability is not a tool to subjugate the other races, because it works on the Asari as well. It's just a natural trait," Maeteris said and gestured towards the rest of the team. "As you can see, the others are also not entranced by the Asari. Well, except the Kelly, but she probably would find some kind of beauty in an Ork."

"Still, this natural trait gives them one hell of an edge," Gallardi said. "Probably explains why they are so good at negotiations."

"Every race has its own advantages. Look at the Krogan; our enemies wasted enough firepower on Grunt to bring down a small fireteam yet he is still alive and quite healthy," Maeteris said. "The Turians are also rather sturdy species. The Asari advantages are simply more subtle."

"Yes, but I would still prefer to have an enemy with visible advantages to those whose traits I might not be aware of," Gallardi countered.

"Are the abilities of the Asari really so evil?" Maeteris asked him. "Remember that it was them who stopped the escalation of the Turian human conflict. What do you think would have happened if the Asari hadn't intervened?"

"We would have won," Gallardi replied, true to himself.

"Or perhaps it would have been the other way around. Or, and that would have been the most expectable outcome, your people would've signed the peace treaty when both of you suffered millions, if not billions of casualties," Maeteris argued. "The Asari averted all those needless deaths. So tell me truthfully: is it such an awful thing – being able to broker peace and avert countless deaths?"

"I suppose not," Gallardi said with a shrug.

They stood in silence for a moment before Gallardi asked his next question.

"Tell me something, Maeteris. Your Craftworld, is it somewhat similar to this world?"

"Of course not. I mean, the Asari certainly try, but this city is nothing in comparison to the beauty of Ulthwe," Maeteris replied.

"That's not what I meant," Gallardi shook his head. "I mean, do you have civilians that do all these simple things like going to work, visiting shops and restaurants, stuff like that?"

"Oh, I see," Maeteris nodded. "Well, there's little commerce on Ulthwe because commerce is born from abundance and on the Craftworld everything is strictly measured. But we have artificers who create various goods, and for entertainment we have theaters, music and dance halls. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that I've spent the greater part of my life fighting aliens that I've started to think that your kind exists simply to do battle with the Imperium, that there is nothing beyond that," Gallardi elaborated. "I guess my viewpoint is true in some cases – Orks don't build cities, they build war camps and strongholds. The Tyranids are just a horde of ravenous predators that consumes everything in its path. And the Necrons, well, they don't exactly live. But I guess this is different with the Eldar."

"The Tau are also more or less civilized," Maeteris noted. "They build cities just like your people although because of their caste system their lifestyle is somewhat different."

"That's the thing, I've never fought against the Tau, nor was I deployed on one of their worlds," the Captain said. "I've read reports, of course, but reading about something us one thing and seeing it for yourself is quite another."

He was quiet for a moment, but then Gallardi suddenly chuckled.

"What is it?" Maeteris asked him, curious about what he found so amusing.

"I think I finally figured out the great mystery the Ordo Xenos was trying to solve for a long time," Gallardi replied. "How the Tau manage to convert so many of our worlds with ease?"

"It was a mystery for your inquisitors?" Maeteris asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"Not at first; the Inquisition really believed that the Tau ethereals were a bunch of powerful psykers. It became a mystery when we figured out that they had no sorcerous powers whatsoever," Gallardi replied. "The inquisitors continued to try and understand just what the ethereals so persuasive but I think that the answer was always in plain sight."

"I'll admit, the life in the Imperium is harsh and the Tau know it. All they had to do was to offer the Imperial citizens the same life they had in Imperium with exception that they will have to pay less taxes or something like that. Then they just throw in some fancy xenotech to show their good intentions," Gallardi lowered his head. "I'm ashamed to admit it but some people it's more than an adequate price for betraying the Emperor."

"But not for people like you," Maeteris stated rather than asked.

"I would never bow to the will of xenos," Gallardi said firmly. "Especially those who were still hiding in caves when Mankind conquered the stars."

"That is something that both of our people have in common," Maeteris said with a nod. "Do you know that the Tau had the audacity to approach my kin and offer for us to join their empire?"

Gallardi turned to look at her. "Really?"

"Yes, although it was not my Craftworld they approached at first, it was the Craftworld Iyanden," Maeteris told him. "We still use parts of their speech as a joke to brighten our mood. They said: join us, noble Eldar! There is a place for everyone within the Tau Empire. Both of our people would prosper if you accept the Greater Good and the wisdom of the ethereals."

Gallardi chuckled: "Yes, I can understand why you found that amusing."

"_The wisdom of the ethereals_. What 'wisdom of the ethreals'? I know several Farseers who are older than entire generations of these ethereals. How can they possibly think that they are wiser than us if our leaders simply lived longer and know more about the nature of the universe than the Tau ever will?"

"Yeah, they seem to think that they are the best thing that ever happened to the galaxy and every race should be delighted to join them," Gallardi added. "Hey, do you think they ever offered the Orks the same deal? I mean, look at the Kroot and the Vespid – they aren't that far away from greenskins."

Maeteris actually chuckled as she tried to imagine the scene. "I highly doubt it, but it would have been a most amusing sight."

She tried to mock a Tau ethereal. "Join us, fierce Orks! There is a place for everyone within the Tau Empire. I am certain we have a vacant position for you people in… Um, waste management department, perhaps?"

Maeteris heard as Gallardi snorted loudly before he started to speak with almost perfect Orkish guttural accent. "Youz speek funny! Me eat ya legz!"

The joke was simple but the Imperial managed to capture the Orkish crudeness so well that Maeteris could not help but start laughing and Gallardi quickly joined her.

Their gazes met and the laughter awkwardly stopped as they remembered who they were. They both averted their eyes immediately and turned to look at the people wandering below them.

"Strange, is it not?" Maeteris began after a short pause. "A couple of weeks ago we would have killed each other without a second thought. Now we trade jokes about the lesser races."

"Yes, this place and its ideas of peaceful coexistence and tolerance infect us more effectively than the taint of Chaos," Gallardi said with a nod.

"Perhaps it is because in the case of Chaos we resist its influence with every fiber of our being?" Maeteris asked rhetorically.

Gallardi only sighed.

Maeteris heard the sound of opening doors behind her and turned to see Commander Shepard step out of the office. Judging by her expression her meeting did not go well.

Gallardi notice it as well and the Farseer saw as a disappointed frown began to form on his face. The conflict between him and the Commander was inevitable.

As they went to reunite with the rest of their group Maeteris decided to try and smooth over the upcoming confrontation a bit.

"Captain, I know it is not my place to advise on this thing but please, before you cast your judgment remember that Commander Shepard was not born in the Imperium," Maeteris said. "She broke no laws and betrayed no one."

The Imperial glanced at her briefly, but did not reply in any way.

* * *

><p>As Shepard exited Liara's office she finally took off the mask she was wearing to make Liara feel that she was not hurt by her wish to end their relationship. But Victoria was hurt and hurt badly. The ache was so strong that it took all of Shepard's willpower not sag down and start weeping. Instead she just leaned on a nearby wall and let out a shuddering sigh.<p>

"Shepard?" Victoria heard Miranda approach. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Victoria replied simply. "Just… Give me a moment."

"Certainly," Miranda replied politely and stepped away.

Shepard's thoughts returned to Liara. Victoria knew she had to let it go but she simply could not. Victoria had several crushes in her youth but they never were anything serious. But when she met Liara, Shepard honestly believed Liara to be the one. The one you spend the rest of your life with in happiness and pain until death separates you etcetera. She never confided to anyone about it, not even to Liara. Victoria didn't even know if Liara felt the same way but Shepard liked to think that she did.

She didn't blame Liara for anything, no. She was blaming the universe for being such a heartless bitch. "_This is not fair. I'm not a bad person, I've dedicated my life to the protection of others,_" Victoria thought. "_All I ever wanted in return was a bit of personal happiness. But it was too much to ask, wasn't it?_"

Shepard felt her eyes water and she quickly wiped out her tears before anyone noticed. "_Get a hold of yourself, Victoria,_" Shepard told herself inwardly. "_If Liara was able to let it go then so can you._"

Shepard sighed heavily one more time before she straightened up and returned to her group.

"Alright, we're done here. Where to, Miranda?" Shepard asked her XO.

Miranda looked like she wanted to ask something but decided against it. "My contact should be waiting for us in the Eternity Club not far from here."

"_Hope that club has a bar, cause right now I can really use a drink,_" Shepard thought and nodded for Miranda to lead on.

She saw both Maeteris and Gallardi approach them.

"My guides tell me that this is where we part ways," the Farseer said. "I wish you good fortune with your task."

"Thanks, to you as well," Victoria said with a nod.

Maeteris bowed slightly and went to join Kelly and Kasumi.

Gallardi did not say anything, but Shepard could see the change in his attitude. Victoria knew this conversation was going to happen one day. She knew that he would not approve of her relationship with Liara, not that it mattered any longer.

But, truth to be told, right now Shepard no longer cared what some xenophobe from another dimension thought about her.

"Let's go," Shepard said as they started to move towards their next destination.

Liara watched Victoria depart as she stood on her balcony. Her communicator pinged, signaling that Nixeris was trying to reach her.

"Madam T'Soni, since Commander Shepard has left, Should I resume your calls?"

"No. Give me a few moments," Liara said as she went to her bathroom.

"Certainly, madam T'Soni," Nyxeris said and ended the call.

Liara entered her bathroom; the only place in her office she knew was not monitored. As soon as she closed the door, Liara's legs gave away. She sagged against the cold tiles and started crying.

She couldn't do it. Liara could not find the strength to tell Shepard that it was she who recovered Victoria's body and surrendered it to Cerberus. Victoria would surely hate her for it, and in that case Liara might never see or talk to Victoria ever again, and that is something she wouldn't be able to bear. However, Liara also could not live together with Shepard while keeping such a secret and that is why she promised herself not continue her relationship with Victoria, not after what Liara did. Shepard deserved someone better. Liara however felt that she should just be content with being Victoria's friend.

She stood up, approached the sink and rinsed her face to hide that she was crying. Liara looked at herself in the mirror.

No matter how hard it was, she knew she had to shape up and carry on. The Shadow Broker was still out there and Victoria needed Liara's help.

"Come on, T'Soni. You have a job to do," Liara told herself and returned to her office.

They reached Eternity soon enough. The attendant at the entrance was about to tell Shepard's group that they need to hand over their weapons before entering but she immediately recognized Victoria and told them that they were free to proceed.

"Is there some kind of trouble?" the Asari attendant asked carefully.

Shepard shook her head. "We're just here to meet someone."

As they entered the club's main hall several patrons glanced at their group but quickly looked away. It seemed that Ilium's citizens were used to seeing armed and armored mercenaries around.

Miranda went towards one of the private booths, most likely looking for her contact. Shepard and the rest followed her.

"Looks like we're early," Miranda said as she looked at the empty booth. "We'll have to wait for a bit, I'm sure Lanteia will be here soon."

"Fine by me," Victoria said and went towards the bar. "Don't know about you, but I could really use a drink."

She took a seat at the bar counter and in a moment an Asari bartender approached her.

"What can I get you, honey?" the barkeep asked casually in rather gruff voice.

"Whiskey," Shepard said and showed her three fingers.

The Asari returned with the drink. Shepard took the glass, exhaled sharply and emptied it with a single swig. She placed the glass on the counter loudly and waived for another round.

Victoria had been never a heavy drinker, and even if she was her implants made sure that she could never get drunk. All she wanted right now was for the dull ache in her chest caused by her break up with Liara to subside a little. As Victoria brought her refilled glass to her lips, she heard a sound of heavy boots behind her.

"We might be going into battle soon, Shepard," Gallardi stated plainly behind Victoria.

"I'm aware of that," Shepard replied and sipped her drink.

"Are you certain?" Gallardi asked her.

"If you have a problem, Captain, just say it," Victoria told him with a slight edge in her voice.

"I don't have any problems, but I cannot say the same about you," Gallardi told her. "I don't know what happened back there in that office and frankly I wouldn't care if it hadn't affected you this much. You shouldn't allow some alien to…"

He wasn't able to finish because Victoria quickly stood up and turned to face him. She grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into a nearby column.

Gallardi resisted instinctively and Victoria felt as his powerful cybernetic arm tried to break her grip on him. But Shepard's own cybernetic enhancements made sure that she was not a pushover either; they were in deadlock.

"Her name is Liara, daughter of noble house T'Soni and I care about her greatly," Shepard hissed in Gallardi's face. "You can hate aliens all you want, but say one bad word about her and we are going to have a problem."

She stared at Gallardi for some time, waiting for some reply but he looked surprised by her outburst.

"Disappointed, Captain? Yes, I'm in a relationship with an alien. I guess that your Imperium has a special place in hell for the likes of me, but guess what? You're not in the Imperium anymore."

"And I curse the fate every day for this," Gallardi retorted heatedly.

Victoria was about to reply when she felt herself being yanked away from Gallardi. She managed to keep her footing and quickly turned around to face her attacker only to see the Asari bartender standing there.

"If you humans want to start a fight that's fine by me but do it outside of my bar," the Asari threatened, her fists aglow with biotic power. "Are we clear on that?"

"Perfectly clear," Shepard said quickly, knowing too well that things could get really ugly if she starts using her biotics. Mainly because Gallardi would have no reservations about killing her.

The bartender nodded crisply and returned to her counter. Victoria turned away and approached Gallardi.

"If you don't like how we do things, then quit; the door is right over there, I'm not keeping you," Shepard told him.

"You're well aware that I have nowhere to go," Gallardi replied with a snort.

"Go to Cerberus or Terra Firma, I think they'll be excited to have another bigot in their ranks," Shepard advised.

"I'll take that as a compliment, xenos lover," the Imperial retorted.

"You're welcome! Now go preach your religion somewhere else," Victoria snapped back. Then she turned away and approached the bar. She quickly finished the second glass and then used her omni-tool to pay for the drinks, leaving a generous tip in the process.

"Sorry about the mess," Victoria told the bartender.

"Right," the Asari replied. Shepard noticed that the alien was giving her a rather strange look, as if she was appraising her. Victoria dismissed it as her imagination and decided to rejoin her team.

As she approached the group, Victoria heard that Gallardi was now having an argument with Jack.

"So she used to bang an Asari. Big fucking deal," Jack said and waved around the bar. "Look around you, everyone's doing it."

"It is a big deal, especially if she allows it to get the better of her," Gallardi replied. "I'd rather not follow a drunk into combat, things like those get you killed."

Victoria felt her anger rising. "I can be dead drunk and still be a better soldier than you. I don't even need a fancy gun to be one."

Gallardi chuckled contemptuously. "Oh yes, I'm certain of it."

Shepard stepped closer and looked him dead in the eyes. "Care to back those words, Captain?"

The Imperial leaned closer as well. "Very much so, but a fight between us will only serve our enemies."

Victoria was about to call him a coward, but suddenly an idea appeared in her head. "Then let our enemies determine who is best. Just between you and me."

"Agreed, Staff Commander," Gallardi said with a nod.

"Good, I actually hope there is going to be trouble when we take care of Miranda's sister," Shepard said eagerly.

"And that is exactly what is going to happen," Miranda said as she approached the group. "Shepard, I just talked with Lanteia. My father employed Eclipse to capture Oriana."

"I see. Anything else?" Shepard asked because judging by Miranda's voice she was concerned about something.

"I'm... not certain, but it seems that Maeteris was right," Miranda replied. "And in that case we need to move and fast."

"Then let's not waste any more time," Victoria nodded. "Alright, for those who were not present, during the next engagement me and Captain Gallardi are going to take point. Everyone else is to move in support, but do not engage unless it's absolutely necessary. Is that understood?"

"Fine by me," Jack shrugged.

"Yeah, this is going to be interesting," Zaeed added with a smirk.

Miranda looked at them with confusion. "I believe I'm missing something. What is going on?"

"The big guy and the girl scout decided to determine who is best in ass whooping," Jack grinned.

"Commander, I must object!" Miranda said in disbelief. "This is hardly a time for…"

"Objection noted, but my decision stands," Victoria stated firmly. "Let's be off."

The flight to the spaceport was spent in tense silence, with both Victoria and Gallardi meticulously checking their equipment. They weren't able to reach the spaceport directly because an Eclipse gunship forced them to land near one of the cargo terminals.

As soon as they left the air car, Victoria spotted several mercs approach them. Some of them took defensive positions while the team leader with two sidekicks approached Shepard's team.

The idiot stopped dangerously close to Victoria and started arguing with Miranda about something, Shepard didn't really get it because she was already in her 'combat mode'. Something about Miranda stealing a baby girl, Victoria simply made a mental note to herself to ask Miranda to elaborate it later.

After that the merc started to threaten Shepard's team, telling them to back off or his squad will 'unleash hell upon them'. It was all the excuse Shepard needed.

She quickly made the merc regret standing close to her and not wearing helmet. In a single stride Victoria closed the distance and head-butted the surprised man. Then she used him as live shield and unloaded her Phalanx into the leader's cronies. When both bodies fell on the floor, Shepard snapped the leader's neck.

However, before Victoria had the chance on a good start Gallardi evened the odds - he fired at the automatic cargo crane that carried a tank with something explosive. The crane was positioned right above two mercs who were hiding behind a cargo crate. Gallardi's shots must have hit something inside the crane because it released the tank and the resulting explosion immolated both mercenaries. Only one Salarian left of the Eclipse welcoming team and he was too stupefied by the sudden wanton destruction that he just stood and stared at Shepard's team in disbelief. A burst of lasfire quickly ended his life.

Shepard and Gallardi exchanged challenging glances before they dashed forward looking forward for more targets. There weren't many however - by the time they reached the elevator that would take them closer to the passenger terminal, they encountered three more mercenaries. Gallardi took the lead by scoring two kills.

As they waited for the elevator to arrive, Miranda managed to tap into the Eclipse communications. There wasn't much useful intel in their banter except for the fact that the Eclipse commander was sending additional teams to delay Shepard's team, which was just fine with Victoria.

The elevator arrived and the team started their ascent. Shepard decided that she had enough time to get some answers.

"Miranda, what was all that talk about a baby girl?" Victoria asked the woman.

"Yes, I guess I should explain that," Miranda looked extremely uncomfortable when she replied. "You see, Oriana is my twin, genetically. But our father… grew her when I was a teenager. She was meant to replace me. I couldn't let our father do to her what he did to me. So I rescued her," she said with a slight smile. "She's almost a woman now."

"Are her new parents abusive? Is she living in poverty?" Victoria asked Miranda, even though she already knew the answer.

"What? Of course not, they are very kind people. True, they don't live in luxury like my father but they earn more than enough," Miranda defended Oriana's step-parents. "Oriana was never in need, she studies in one of the most prestigious schools. Well, she used to before all this, but I made sure that..."

"So long story short, she lives a good life," Victoria interrupted Miranda. "You did the right thing, Lawson."

"I... Yes, I know. But, thank you, Shepard," Miranda said. "I knew you would understand."

The elevator doors opened and Victoria rushed out, eager to once again take the lead in the competition. However Gallardi was not too far behind. Even though both of them pushed themselves to their limit, none were able to gain a sizeable advantage over another. While Gallardi's lasgun gave him an undeniable edge, Victoria was far more versatile - she had much tougher kinetic barriers and her biotics and tech expertise allowed her to adapt to almost any combat situation.

Among the biggest mercenary groups the Eclipse prided itself in having some of the best trained troops, while groups like Blue Suns and Blood Pack relied mostly on numbers. However, crushed between the steely determination of the Imperial Guard elite and the golden standard of the N7 operatives the mercenaries stood no chance.

While decimating the Eclipse contingent, Victoria kept listening to the mercs' radio chatter. Mostly it was calling for more reinforcements, which the Eclipse commander known as Captain Enyala denied, telling her troops to delay Shepard's team long enough for her and someone named Niket to complete the transfer of Oriana. Judging by Miranda's reaction Victoria figured that the woman knew who Niket was and was extremely confused as to why he was helping Eclipse get Oriana.

As they entered another elevator, Shepard asked Miranda about Niket.

"Niket is one of my oldest friends. Or so I thought," Miranda muttered. "I don't understand – he was the one who helped me escape my father in the first place. Now, after all these years he helps my father get Oriana back? Why?"

"Maybe he's under duress?" Shepard suggested.

"I'd like to think so, but remember what the Farseer said – when the truth comes out, I will not like it," Miranda sighed.

"Well, there is really only one way to find out," Victoria stated as she prepared to exit the elevator once again.

They got the answer they were looking for as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. The scene before them included a rather nervous looking Asari clerk, an agitated man who was arguing with an Asari merc that she could die of boredom at any moment.

"I was promised that we'd do it my way," the man argued. "We're not traumatizing the family any further."

The merc, probably captain Enyala, was no longer listening to him because she spotted Shepard and her team. Noticing her reaction, the man also turned around.

"Miri?" the man muttered as he recognized Miranda.

Miranda pointed her Tempest at him. "Niket. You sold me out," she added in a cold tone.

"This should be fun," Enyala said as she stood up and took out her shotgun.

Seeing that things were about to get ugly, the Asari clerk started to back away from Niket and Enyala, raising her hands in the process. Enyala saw this and started to aim her shotgun at the Asari with a smirk.

However she wasn't able to finish lining up her weapon because a sudden lasbolt removed part of her face.

Gallardi's shot was so sudden then for a moment everyone was too stunned to move. Then the Asari clerk shrieked and dived into nearest available cover. That brought everyone out of stupor and both the mercs and Victoria's team opened fire on each other. Niket however was still dazed by Enyala's sudden gruesome end that he just stood there and would have surely caught a bullet if Miranda didn't yank him into cover and ordered him stay put.

"What the hell was that?" Shepard shouted to Gallardi as she fired over her cover.

"What do you mean?" Gallardi asked in return.

"Why did you shoot Enyala all of a sudden?" Victoria elaborated her question.

"She tried to point her gun at me!" Gallardi replied.

"She wasn't trying to shoot you, she wanted to kill that other Asari," Victoria told him.

"You don't know that!" the Captain argued.

"Hate to break you but in case you didn't notice there is fuckload of mercs here intent on killing us," Jack interrupted them. "You can continue once they are dead."

Shepard and Gallardi exchanged glances and returned to the business of killing the Eclipse mercenaries. It didn't take long for them to clear the area.

"Clear!" Gallardi signaled.

"Same here!" Shepard shouted from her side.

"Uh, wait!" Jack said as she started massaging her temple. She looked like she was listening to something only she could hear. "There is something…"

Trusting Jack's unusual abilities, Shepard once again raised her rifle and scanned the surrounding area.

Suddenly a Salarian merc jumped out of cover and tried to shoot Jack.

"Contact!" Victoria and Gallardi shouted simultaneously and opened fire. Immediately, the merc was riddled with both bullets and lasbolts. His body jerked a couple of times before he dropped dead.

"Jack?" Victoria asked the woman as she looked for more enemies.

"Yup, now it's all clear," Jack announced with a grin. "You can thank me later, preferably with cash."

Shepard nodded to her and went to inspect the dead Salarian. Gallardi approached the body as well. It looked like the Salarians will be the ones who would suffer the most when the laser weapons become widespread, mainly because of their amphibian origins their bodies contained more water and it made them vulnerable to heat based weapons. The corpse before them actually lost an arm because Gallardi's shots hit him in the shoulder joint.

"I've got twenty-three," Victoria stated, referring to her number of kills.

"I've got twenty-three as well," Gallardi said.

A draw. This meant that the dead Salarian before them was a tiebreaker. Victoria didn't actually cared about winning anymore because halfway through their competition she understood that she actually started this challenge not because she wanted to know who was the best but because she wanted to know if she was still capable of fighting and leading to the best of her ability. She still had a duty to the Galaxy. The Collectors and the Reapers would not stop their war just because Shepard's personal life was in ruins.

"The lasbolts fly faster than bullets and penetrate barriers. He was probably already dead by the time my bullets reached him," Victoria said with a sigh. "This one is yours. Congratulations."

Gallardi didn't start gloating about his victory, and frankly speaking Victoria didn't expect him to. He might be self-righteous but he was definitely not a vainglorious man.

Victoria turned around and went to look for that Asari clerk who was probably still hiding among the crates. Gallardi reloaded his weapon and followed her at the respectful distance.

"Ma'am? It's all over, you can come out," Shepard called out.

"I didn't see anything!" the Asari said meekly. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Nobody is going to hurt you, ma'am, I promise you," Victoria told her.

The girl peeked out of her cover and looked around. She stopped her gaze on Victoria and in a moment Asari seemed to recognize her.

"You are... Spectre Shepard, right?" the clerk asked uncertainly.

"Yes ma'am. Are you hurt?" Victoria asked her.

"No, I do not think I am," the Asari said as she stood up and approached Shepard. "What happened? The last thing I remember is how that mercenary was about to shoot me. Then everything was bright and she just dropped dead."

"Captain Gallardi shot the merc," Shepard explained and pointed at the man with her thumb.

The Asari studied him for a moment and then she did probably the silliest thing possible. She dashed towards Gallardi and enveloped him in a hug.

"Thank you, I would be dead if it wasn't for you," the Asari mumbled with a sniff.

As much as Victoria enjoyed the Imperial's mortified expression she quickly approached the pair and gently pried the Asari off Gallardi before he freaked out and did something irreversible. The man breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked away from the Asari as far as possible, nervously dusting himself off as if the alien was somehow contagious.

The Asari stared at him and then looked at Victoria for some explanation as she was clearly confused by the man's behavior.

"You'll have to excuse him," Shepard said diplomatically. "The Captain is not very used to aliens. Don't ask why, it's a very long story."

"Oh! I am sorry, I didn't mean to cause offense," the Asari said. "I just... Wanted to thank you. For saving my life."

Gallardi nodded briefly and turned away from them.

"Will you be alright?" Victoria asked the Asari.

"Yes, I will," the clerk said and looked around at the various corpses of Eclipse mercs. "I guess I should call the security down here."

"I guess you should," Shepard said with a smile and patted the Asari shoulder.

She heard a commotion behind her and saw Miranda argue with Niket and their argument was less than friendly. Victoria quickly made her way towards the two before things went south.

"...which means that you're the only one left who knows about Oriana's location," Miranda said and aimed her gun at Niket. "I'm sorry Niket. This is not how I wanted this to end."

Victoria dashed as quickly as possible towards Miranda and just in time to push the woman's gun upwards and save Niket.

"Shepard?" Miranda glared at Victoria.

"Enough, Miranda," Shepard said sternly.

"Shepard, as long as he lives, Oriana will never be safe," Miranda argued. "He said that my father doesn't know Oriana's location. This makes him the only loose end."

"And killing him is the only answer?" Victoria asked. "Maybe Niket can help. He can talk to your father and say you got here first. You can do that, Niket?"

The man gulped loudly as he tried to form a coherent reply. "I can… I'll tell him that you hid her. That I don't know where she is."

Miranda stared at him for a long time before she slowly lowered her weapon.

"I never want to see you again, Niket," the brunette threatened. "Get out."

"Thank you," Niket muttered as he slowly moved towards the elevator. "I'm sorry, Mirri. I really thought I did the right thing…"

"Get out!" Miranda shouted and the man immediately ran away.

For a brief moment Miranda just stared in the direction Niket went before she finally spoke. "You should have let me kill him. It would have been a much safer thing to do."

"He was still your friend," Victoria said. "Good or bad, but a friend nonetheless."

"Yes, I suppose he was," Miranda nodded. "I could have prevented it if I trusted Maeteris. I guess we should really listen closely to what she says, no matter how painful the truth is."

"Hear, hear," Victoria agreed.

"Niket said that these were the last of the Eclipse mercs but I want to be sure," Miranda continued. "We need to go to the passenger terminal."

"Alright, grab everyone and let's get moving," Victoria said and went towards the elevator.

As she almost reached the doors she spotted something shiny lying on the floor. She bent down and saw that it was some kind of locket. Shepard picked it up and opened it. Inside she found two photos – one of an adult human man in his late thirties and a picture of an Asari, most likely in her Matron years.

Victoria was not sure if she was supposed to laugh or cry at fate's cruelty because this locket once again reminded Shepard of what she always wanted but could no longer have.

"Shepard, we're waiting for you," Miranda said and Victoria saw that the whole team was already assembled inside the elevator. She quickly stuffed the locket inside one of her pouches and rejoined her crew.

_Ten minutes later, inside the civilian spaceport's passenger terminal…_

"No sign of Eclipse; I guess Niket was saying the truth," Miranda said as she returned from her sweep. She turned around and searched for her sister and her family.

"There she is. She is safe... with her family," Miranda said quietly as spotted Oriana.

Shepard easily found Oriana in the crowd. Even though she looked a bit younger and had a short haircut there was undeniable similarity between her and Miranda.

"Come on, we can go now," Miranda said and turned to leave only to be stopped by Victoria's arm.

"Whoa, hold your horses, Lawson, we aren't in a rush," Shepard said. "Don't you even want to say hello?"

"It's not about what I want, it's about what is best for Oriana," Miranda shook her head. "The less she knows about me, the better."

"She does not need any details, but I'm sure she would love to know that she has a sister who cares about her," Victoria persisted.

"I don't know..." Miranda hesitated.

"Go, Lawson. You can never be absolutely certain what tomorrow will bring forth," Gallardi said with a distant look. "Make sure you never regret missing a chance to spend some time with your family."

Miranda was silent for a moment before she spoke up. "I suppose you're right."

"Go," Victoria encouraged the woman. "We'll wait here."

As Miranda went to meet her sister the rest of the team dispersed. Victoria decided to find the "Lost and found" service and turn in the locket she found. Whoever lost it was most likely either a passenger or a spaceport's employee. Since it contained a picture of at least one of the owners there was a great chance it could be returned to them.

Shepard found the place quickly but the spaceport attendant was currently busy trying to calm down a clearly distraught Asari matron.

"Are you sure there is nothing you can do?" the Asari was clearly on a verge of tears. "The locket is very important to me, it belonged to my late bondmate."

The attendant shook her head. "I am sorry madam but it is unlikely that something as small as the locket could be found…"

As soon as Victoria heard the word 'locket' she quickly took out the one she found and opened it. She compared the photo of the Asari inside with the one who was talking to attendant and found it that they were an exact match. Victoria quickly approached the woman and tapped her shoulder lightly.

"Yes?" the Asari turned around, slightly irritated by the interruption. "Oh, I am sorry human, I just…"

"You're looking for this, ma'am?" Victoria asked and handled her the locket.

The Asari immediately recognized the item and her face lit up with joy. "Yes, this is it! Oh, thank you. Thank you so much."

She opened the locket and looked at the picture inside and a few tears ran down her face. "Oh, Steven… Seira, our daughter, she is still so very young. This is one of the few tokens left for her to remember her father."

"It was my pleasure to help," Victoria said with a smile.

"Here, at least allow me to pay you for your trouble," the Asari said and reached for her omni-tool.

"That will not be necessary," Shepard raised her hands in protest. "Your gratitude is more than enough."

"Are you certain?" the Asari asked.

"Absolutely," Victoria nodded.

"Fair enough. But can you at least give me your… Wait, you are Shepard, the human Spectre, right?" the Asari finally recognized Victoria.

"Yes ma'am," Shepard replied.

"Steven also served in the Alliance. He always spoke very highly of you," the Asari mentioned. "Thank you once again, Spectre. My daughter and I will never forget your kindness."

As the grateful woman departed, Victoria noticed Gallardi standing not far away. It was obvious that he overheard the entire exchange and, oddly enough, this time his expression was not contemptuous or disapproving. Just thoughtful.

As Miranda returned from her meeting with her sister the group finally decided to return to the Normandy. Shepard's XO meeting must have went well because for the first time since Victoria and Miranda first met, the later looked genuinely happy and it brightened Shepard's mood as well, despite everything that happened today.

On their way back they stopped by the same trade center they visited today because Victoria wanted to visit a certain musical instrument shop she noticed earlier this morning. She told the rest of the team to go ahead without her before she went to buy herself a new guitar, something she wanted to do for quite some time.

Victoria spent some time in the acoustic guitar section and as she was about finally make a choice, one particular guitar caught Shepard's attention. It wasn't a simple classic six-string guitar but a flamenco guitar, easily identified by the golpeadores, or pick guards installed on the guitar's top. Victoria picked it up and played several test chords. The guitar was off-key of course, but it had a right and rather percussive sound to it.

Satisfied with her choice, Shepard paid for the instrument and returned to the Normandy.

However, as she was approaching the ramp to her ship, EDI contacted her through the com.

"Shepard, the dock control tower is hailing the Normandy. They want to talk to you."

"Sure, put them through," Victoria said. "This is Spectre Shepard, how can I be of assistance?"

"This is control tower. We apologize for bothering you, Spectre, but there is a… a taxi requesting permission to enter your hangar directly. They claim to carry your three crew members."

"_Looks like the girls did a lot of shopping_," Victoria thought to herself. "Permission granted, control, we've been expecting them."

"Understood. Control tower out."

As Victoria turned around to see the air car fly inside the hangar, she understood why the official she just talked to hesitated over a term 'taxi'. Because it wasn't a simple taxi.

It was a luxurious limo.

"EDI, get the crew outside," Shepard said with a grin. "I think they will want to see this."

As the limo landed not far away from the ramp, Shepard heard a lot of footsteps behind her. She turned around to see most of the crew assembled on the ramp.

The limo driver, a human in a black suit and a cap, left the car and quickly opened the passenger door. The first to step out was Kasumi, who wore a tight red and black suit instead of her usual black and grey. She flashed the crowd a mischievous grin before she stepped away to allow the next person to exit the car.

Kelly was next and it was certain now that their shopping trip was not about buying clothes just for Maeteris. Kelly was dressed in a rather expensive green dress instead of her usual uniform. The yeoman was smiling widely like it was a best day of her life.

The last to exit the limo was of course Maeteris. She was dressed in a black and white dress of oriental design. The dress consisted of a tight fitting tunic and pants and it looked both functional and elegant at the same time and it greatly complimented the woman's slender frame. She also had a white ornamented shawl made of silk wrapped around her head which only strengthened her usual mystique.

The women picked up their bags from the limo's trunk. Among the usual paper shopping bags there was also one rolling duffel bag which probably contained Maeteris' armor. Victoria also noticed that the Farseer carried a strange bag that looked more like a case for a musical instrument, though Shepard could not recognize it by its shape.

"Well, it looks like someone had a great time," Victoria heard Jacob say.

Kasumi was the first one to speak as the three approached the ramp. "Well, what do you people think?"

"I think you all look absolutely fantastic," Shepard replied.

"Although I agree with Commander, I wish to know how you've managed it." Miranda said.

"What do you mean, Miranda?" Victoria asked.

"Shepard, Miss Chambers' dress alone would have covered the entire budget we gave them for this whole endeavor," Miranda explained.

"Please Kasumi, tell me you didn't steal all this?" Shepard almost pleaded.

"No! Who do you think I am, Shepard, a thief?" Kasumi asked with mock hurt. "Oh wait…"

"Tell them, Goto," Maeteris said plainly.

The master thief grinned widely. "Well, Shepard, do you remember the jewelry I stole on Bekenstein?"

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><p><em>AN: I hate myself for giving you another cliffhanger, but then again I'm evil. :P_


	16. Illium Adventures Part 2

_Author's Note: If you're reading this then congratulations, you survived the end of the world._**  
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_Not much to say right now so I'll just skip to the guest reviews:  
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_Jeremy hollis__: No it was another Craftworld, Iyanden.  
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_Whale:__ No, no other characters from WH 40k will make an appearance. Sorry.  
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_ANGRY MARINE: Good God, I hope the Guardsman is alright, he seemed like a nice fellow. :)  
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_Grammar Romans envoy: By all means, please invite the Grammar Romans. If they are as diligent as people say then perhaps they will notice that during first Chapter Shepard received a letter from Anderson which said that Shepard was posthumously promoted to Staff Commander.  
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_Crushcommando: I hope this update satisfies your berserker side. :)  
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_Everybody else: Thank you for your comments!  
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_Also, please do not use the reviews for arguing. You can create an account and either use the PM or our forum. The link to the forum is in my profile.  
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_One more thing: moondog660 gets an Internet cake for his 600 review._

_Oh, and for those of you who didn't notice, this story now has it's own cover. :)  
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><p><strong>Chapter 16: Illium adventures Part 2<strong>

**Location: Nos Astra, Illium**

"So, I take it that we're not going to the Verani District directly," Kelly said as Kasumi led them through the trade center's corridors.

"I'd love to, Kelly, but our current budget wouldn't allow us to have any fun," the thief replied. "I think we need to increase it a little."

Maeteris quietly followed them. She had a vague understanding of the concept of currency, but was certainly not aware of the local prices and what was considered cheap or expensive. Therefore, the Farseer had to trust her human companions in this matter.

After some time they stopped near a rather obscure shop. The sign over its entrance said "Zimmerman's Antique Shop".

"Don't let the name fool you, Hershi Zimmerman is well known amongst shadier circles as a fence," Kasumi told them. "He's a greedy one, but he is also one of the few I trust. Best that you wait outside, this shouldn't take long."

As the thief entered the shop, Maeteris leant closer to Kelly and asked. "As I understand, 'fence' is a slang term, is it not? I have a hard time believing that an actual fence could be greedy."

"You're right, a fence is a buyer of stolen goods," Kelly explained. "They buy things from burglars and thieves and resell them at higher prices, usually much higher."

"Ah, I see. And Goto went to sell some of her trophies to get more money for our budget?" Maeteris asked. "Was it really that small?"

"Well, whoever made the decision about our allowances obviously expected us to buy you something casual," the human replied. "But me and Kasumi figured that casual wouldn't be appropriate for you."

"You figured wrong, simple wear is precisely what I am looking for," Maeteris said.

"Yes, but I think that your understanding of 'casual' differs from ours," Kelly countered.

She then turned around and pointed at a mixed group of young Asari and human girls. "See, that's what we consider casual."

Maeteris almost cringed as she studied the group's clothes, or rather their near lack thereof. Most of them were wearing tops that left their arms and shoulders exposed. Their skirts and shorts were even worse - they were so short that the Farseer wondered why these aliens even bothered putting them on.

"You don't have full-length casual wear?" Maeteris asked incredulously.

"Of course we do, but you wouldn't wear something like a pair of jeans with a sweater or some kind of one-piece suit, right?" Kelly said with a grimace, as if she found the idea of Maeteris wearing those clothes to be horrifying.

"Perhaps it would have been wise to ask me first, I might have found those clothes to be sufficient..." Maeteris began, only to be interrupted by Kelly.

"No!" the human protested loudly, gaining several odd looks from passersby. "I'm sorry, Farseer, but you're a one and a half thousand year old being of an extremely ancient race. You can't wear jeans and sweaters! You just... can't. Please, let me and Kasumi find something more fitting for you. Please?"

Part of Maeteris wanted to contradict her, but she knew that it would only lead to even more pleas. And the amount of them would only double as soon as Kasumi returned.

"Fine. But the final decision will be mine alone. Is that understood?" Maeteris asked sternly.

"Of course, we wouldn't have it any other way," Kelly nodded.

They waited for some time in silence before Kelly spoke again.

"Farseer, there is something I wanted to ask. Do you think Commander Shepard will be alright?"

"Since our leader was in perfect physical health, I assume that you're referring to her mental state," Maeteris asked.

"Yes, it's obvious that her meeting with Dr. T'Soni didn't go as Shepard wanted it to," Kelly replied. "I've studied Commander's psychological profile extensively and I know that she and Liara T'Soni had something special. Now, it is obvious that Liara doesn't want to rekindle their relationship and I understand her completely…"

"Before you continue any further, let me illuminate you a little, Chambers," Maeteris interrupted her. "In Eldar society it is considered to be the height of discourtesy to discuss the personal relations of others. The matters of heart and soul should concern only those two involved and no one else."

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry, but I had no way of knowing that," Kelly said. "But surely you understand that this is important. Commander Shepard leads a dangerous mission and..."

"You think that it could affect her performance?" Maeteris asked and chuckled. "I would have thought that you had more faith in one of your heroes. Shepard is a strong willed woman, and she will recover from this."

"I understand that, but I think it would have been ideal if there was a way to help them get together again," the human persisted. "And with your extraordinary powers we could..."

"For the last time, no. I will not intrude into the personal matters of others," Maeteris stated firmly. "That is something they must resolve for themselves. If they were meant to be lifemates then there is little one can do to prevent it. If they were not then, forcing them to pursue a relationship that was not meant to be will only hurt them."

Kelly sighed and finally relented. "I suppose there is little point in arguing further, you probably have more experience than I ever will."

Maeteris nodded and turned to continued study her surroundings. It was foolish to hope that Chambers would cease her questioning even for a moment because only scant minutes later Kelly asked her next question.

"Do you have a family, Farseer?" the woman asked and immediately covered her mouth with the palm of her hand as she realized the stupidity of her question. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to remind you…"

"You humans always allow your curiosity get the better of you. One day it will be your undoing, mark my words," Maeteris sighed. "I will satisfy your inquisitiveness for one last time - I am a Farseer - a spiritual guide of my people, therefore I consider them all to be my family. I was separated from them, but if such is my destiny then so be it. That is all you need to know."

"But, was there anyone special?" Kelly asked carefully.

Maeteris briefly remembered Ulathar but quickly dismissed the thought. It was old and a well healed wound.

"No, I was not destined to meet one," the Farseer replied simply.

"I'm sorry to hear that," the human said. "You know, I find it strange when I hear you speak about destiny."

"And why is that, if I may ask?" Maeteris queried.

"Well, you're capable of seeing the future and you're capable of adjusting to future events," Kelly replied. "You're the master of your own fate."

"I ended up here, have I not? Far away from my kin with no means of returning home," Maeteris said in return. "Do you really think that I am in control of my fate?"

"You didn't know that you would end up here?" Chambers asked her.

"When I departed on my mission I saw only darkness in the end," Maeteris replied. "For the most part I thought it to be my demise. All this was an unexpected, if not an entirely unwelcome, change."

Kelly's eyes widened. "You knew that you were going to die and still chose to go?"

"Why do you find it surprising?" Maeteris asked her. "As I understand, most of the ship's crew considers our main mission to be suicidal, yet none has backed away so far."

"That's a bit different, we all think that there's a small chance that we might survive this, and with you and Captain Gallardi on our side our chances are even better," the human countered. "You were fully aware that you would die?"

"What was I supposed to do instead? Run away and hide, condemning some other Seer to take my place?" Maeteris asked. "My presence was one of the reasons we succeeded. If someone else was in my place, things would have gone very wrong and I would have forfeited not only the lives of the Eldar team, but countless billions of others, human and Eldar alike."

"I... I see," Kelly nodded. "I suppose being able to see your own future is not always a great thing."

"It never is," Maeteris said simply.

She heard soft footsteps behind her and turned around to see Kasumi approach them.

"Alright girls, we're good to go," the thief announced with a smile. "Did I miss anything interesting?"

"I'll tell you later, Kas," Kelly replied gingerly. "What about you, was everything alright?"

By the way of response Kasumi simply activated her omni-tool and showed them a small display. It stated 'Balance: 865 546 Cr.'. Upon seeing this, Kelly let out a joyful squeal.

"Judging by Chambers' reaction, this amount is more than sufficient," Maeteris deduced. "Can we finally proceed?"

"Sure, our transport is already waiting for us," Kasumi said simply.

"Transport?" Kelly asked curiously.

"Come, I'm sure you'll love it," Kasumi replied as she led them towards the trade center's exit.

Once they were outside they went towards the parking lot where numerous fliers waited. Most of them were similar in size and configuration but one stood out. It was almost three times bigger and much more luxurious. A human man, most likely the flier's driver, stood near it. He was dressed in a black suit and wore a cap similar to those worn by the officers of the Imperial Guard.

"You didn't?!" Kelly gasped when she saw Kasumi walk towards the aforementioned flier.

"Oh, I did," Kasumi said over her shoulder and approached the driver. "You must be Samuel."

The driver looked at and smiled courteously. "Indeed I am, ma'am. You must be Ms. Zhao," the man said and looked at the rest group. He touched the brim of his cap and bowed slightly. "Ladies, it's my pleasure to be your driver today."

He motioned towards the passenger doors. "This way, please."

The passenger doors slid open and the driver offered his hand to help the women get inside. Both Kasumi and Kelly gratefully accepted his help. Maeteris however did not. She looked inside the flyer and saw that it was richly decorated and had enormous soft seats. The Farseer knew that by riding inside this vehicle she would break at least one of her Path's tenets. She was about to tell the humans that she will not fly on this and that they should seek out other, simpler transport, when she looked around and noticed that they were gathering a lot of curious onlookers who wanted to see the occupants of the rich transport.

"Is there some kind problem, madam?" the driver asked her.

"No," Maeteris replied sharply and got inside the flier. She decided not make a scene and attract attention. It was better to suffer through this ordeal as quickly as possible until they could finally return to the more acceptable conditions aboard the Normandy.

As she took her seat, Maeteris thought that she was about to sink into the ridiculously soft chair. The Farseer forced herself to remain composed as opposed to the completely relaxed humans who were clearly enjoying the vehicle's decadent interior.

The drive took his seat and addressed them over his shoulder. "Where to, ladies?"

"Alethine's Grace in Verani District," Kasumi said.

"At once, Miss Zhao," driver replied and closed a glass shutter between the passenger's and the driver's compartment. In a second, the flier gently took off.

"So, do you girls like it?" Kasumi asked them.

"Like it? I love it!" Kelly replied. She let out a satisfied groan and pressed herself further into her seat. "Always wanted to take a ride inside a limo. What about you, Maeteris?"

Maeteris glared at them. "This is absolutely unnecessary; we could have used a much simpler transportation."

Both humans stared at her with confusion. Kasumi was the first to speak. "Kelly, I think this is the part where we suddenly find out that the Eldar detest luxury in any form."

"But... We saw your cities! They were beautiful!" Kelly argued. "Personally, I assumed that their interiors just the same."

"You assumed wrong. There is a difference between esthetically pleasing and luxurious. My kin approve the former and condemn the latter."

"Sorry, I just wanted to do what I thought was best," Kasumi muttered.

Maeteris sighed. She knew that human was saying the truth. "I understand that you meant well, but you should know that not everything you find to be great is acceptable to others. In future you should simply ask me before doing something in order to avoid these needless problems."

"I will," Kasumi nodded. "Look, if it really bothers you we can dump this thing and get a simple cab."

"No, let us not waste any more time," Maeteris replied and turned to look out of the flier's window.

Their flier must have had certain privileges because they avoided much of the general traffic. They reached their destination and their limo landed in a brightly lit district. As they left their transport, Maeteris noted the change in locals. The people were more richly dressed and held themselves with much more arrogance. This clearly was a quarter for a much more privileged class.

Kasumi led them towards a brightly lit shop with large glass vitrines, with several mannequins displaying the shop's wares. Most of the dresses were too gaudy for Maeteris' taste but one of them caught her attention.

The giant glass doors slid open and the women stepped inside. An Asari attendant immediately approached them.

"Welcome to Alethine's Grace, ladies. My name is..." the Asari started, only to be interrupted by Kasumi.

"It's good to see you again, Narine," the thief greeted the attendant cheerfully. "How is my suit doing?"

The Asari seemed to recognize Kasumi immediately. "Miss Zhao, it is a pleasure to see you again. Your suit was ready almost a month ago, we tried to reach you, but your auto responder kept saying that you were on a business trip."

"Indeed I was, but now I have some free time and I decided to stop by. Can I see it?" Kasumi asked. "Also, these are my friends, Kelly and Maeteris. Maeteris here decided to refresh her wardrobe a little and I couldn't think of a better place."

The Asari flashed them another smile, although she was definitely more interested in Maeteris. "I hope that we will able to satisfy all your needs, ladies. Please follow me."

They went further inside. Kasumi held back a little and spoke in hushed voice. "For those of you who didn't guess already, Zhao Daiyu is my alias."

"Why a Chinese name?" Kelly whispered back.

"Kelly, every year there are fewer and fewer humans left who actually know the difference between Chinese and Japanese," Kelly replied. "As for aliens, they wouldn't understand the difference even if you read them a whole book on the matter. Um, no offence, Maeteris."

"None taken," the Farseer said simply.

Narine approached one of her colleagues and told her to bring Kasumi's order. She then returned to the trio and addressed Maeteris. "So, Maeteris, will it be alright if I call you that?"

"It will, for that is my name and I do not have any other," the Farseer replied.

"And it is a very beautiful name, if I may note," Narine said, clearly attempting to flirt. Maeteris had to stop herself from sighing in resignation – this was going to get old really fast. Even faster if the Asari knew she wasn't talking to a human.

"Now, Maeteris, what exactly do you have in mind?" Narine continued. "Do you want an evening gown? Or perhaps something for everyday use? A business suit perhaps?"

Maeteris didn't reply, but simply walked towards the dress she saw earlier. She reached the mannequin and studied the dress closely. It consisted of a black tightfitting ornamented tunic worn over a pair of simple white pantaloons.

"A very good choice, this is part of our latest shipment," the Asari explained as she appeared beside Maeteris. "It's from a Draco Veretti's latest collection."

"If you ask me, Verretti's last collection was a huge rip-off of several traditional human and Asari dresses. This one is almost a complete copy of ao dai – a traditional Vietnamese dress," Kasumi whispered to Farseer. "But it's nice and very practical. You like it?"

The dress colors suited Maeteris just fine and the material seem to be good. "It is interesting, I would like try it. If the price is acceptable, that is."

"Maeteris, forget about the money," Kasumi whispered back and turned to address Narine. "We'll take this one."

Narine waved another attendant to take the dress off mannequin. "We shall take it to the changing rooms. Would you like to choose the appropriate footwear for it?"

"Yes, some comfortable boots should suffice," Maeteris replied.

"Ah, are you certain? We have a wonderful collection of very exquisite shoes," Narine offered. "I am sure you will look lovely in those."

"I am certain that the boots would suffice," Maeteris repeated, slightly annoyed by the Asari's insistence.

"Fair enough, please follow me," Narine said with a nod led them towards the shoes stalls. There, Maeteris picked up a couple of heelless suede black boots and similar white ones. She also noticed a display that contained a collection of shawls and went there to pick up several.

One of the shop's assistants approached and whispered something to Narine. The Asari nodded and addressed the group. "Miss Zhao, Miss Maeteris, your dress rooms are ready. Unless Kelly would like to choose something..."

"Oh no, I'm just here to keep company," Kelly quickly denied.

"All you have to do is muster your courage and ask, Kelly," Maeteris said. She noticed long ago that the human was constantly eyeing up a rather frivolous green dress. "You know that Kasumi will not say no."

"I won't. Unless there are snakes involved," Kasumi said with a smile. "Which one do you want, Kelly?"

"I..." the woman muttered and glanced one more time at the same dress.

"Aha! Quickly, Narine, grab that one," Kasumi shouted triumphantly.

Kelly squealed joyfully and hugged Kasumi. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kas, you're the best!"

"You know what? I think you're right!" the thief hugged Kelly in return.

Kelly rushed to look at her new dress while Maeteris and Kasumi went towards the dressing rooms. Maeteris leaned closer to human and whispered. "I will need some kind of bag to put my armor into."

"Yeah, I'll get it," Kasumi nodded and went to talk with Narine.

The Farseer reached her dress room and went inside, thoroughly closing the curtain behind her. Once she was sure she was alone, Maeteris dismissed her illusion. She started carefully removing her armor. In hindsight she probably shouldn't have worn the armor plates and resorted to wearing only her undersuit since no one was able to see through her illusion. But what was done was done and the only thing she had to worry about now was for the Asari shopkeepers not to find it strange that the Farseer's current 'robe' managed to fill a rather large bag.

Maeteris heard quiet steps and felt Kasumi's presence on the other side of the curtain.

"Pst, Maeteris, are you there?" the thief asked and without waiting for any response the human pushed her head through the gap between the curtain and the wall. "It's me. Oh, you switched it off already? Good, look at what I've got."

Kasumi carefully pushed a black rolling duffel bag into the dressing room. "You think your armor will fit here, or should I get a bigger one?"

"No, this one will suffice. Thank you," Maeteris replied as she quickly measured the bag.

"Don't mention it," Kasumi said. "Alright, I'm going to check out my stuff. See you soon!"

With that, the human disappeared and Maeteris returned to the process of taking off her armor. She took off her breastplate and put it into the bag. The greaves and boots soon followed. For a moment she thought about leaving the undersuit on, since naturally she wore nothing underneath it, but decided against it. Maeteris quickly stripped off the undersuit and placed inside her bag. Then she started putting on her dress.

"Perhaps you would like some help?" Maeteris heard one of the Asari attendants ask from beyond the curtain, her voice almost too hopeful.

"No!" The Farseer replied with a barely perceptible edge in her voice. "No, I believe I am old enough to dress on my own."

She quickly managed to put the dress on, thankfully this particular human dress was not very complex. Then she chose to put on the white boots. The only thing that remained was the shawl. Maeteris picked the white one and used the dressing room's mirror to correctly put the shawl on, making sure that it hid her ears.

After that she made sure that her tunic was sitting on her as best as it was possible, which was hard as it was definitely not made for an Eldar. The dress was too wide in several places, most notably in the waist. Maeteris decided to ask Narine if the dress could be adjusted.

As she stepped out of the dressing room, Maeteris noticed that both Kelly and Kasumi have changed their attires already. Kelly's dress seems to fit her just fine and Kasumi's new suit was obviously tailor-made specifically for her. It wasn't very different from her previous suit save for a few small details and a different color combination - instead of black and grey, this one was red and black.

Alongside humans stood Narine and several other Asari attendants. All of them were obviously eager to ogle Maeteris.

"Oh, Maeteris, you look fantastic!" Kelly was the first to spot the Eldar.

"Indeed, you look wonderful in this," Narine complimented as well. "It is like it was made just for you."

"No, it is not," Maeteris said and showed then how wide it was around her waist.

"That's strange," one of the Asari attendants said. "Veretti usually tailors for the most graceful models... We usually have to make them wider for our customers."

"Still, that will not be a problem," Narine said. "We have all the necessary equipment to adjust it for you..."

"If you wish, I can take you measurements right now," another attendant offered eagerly.

"Were not you supposed to watch the main hall?" The first attendant hissed quietly.

"I did it all day," the second Asari snapped back. "It's your turn now..."

"Girls, stop it," Narine reprimanded them, visibly ashamed of her subordinates' behavior. "Aylanee, go watch the main hall. Sirria will help Miss Maeteris with adjustments."

The first attendant gave Sirria an immolating glare and walked towards the shop's main hall. The other Asari went into staff room and returned with a box of pins and a flexible tape measure. Then Maeteris had to stoically endure Sirria's attention for several minutes because the Asari seemed determined to keep as little distance as possible between her and the Farseer's body.

"While you wait for the adjustments to me made, perhaps you would like to try something else?" Narine asked once Sirria was done.

"Yes, I would," Maeteris replied and went into the main hall.

After some time she spotted a mannequin that was wearing a combination of a black, long-sleeved top and a long white skirt. A wide leather belt completed the combination.

"I would like to try this one," Maeteris said as she pointed at the mannequin.

"You seem to prefer black and white colors," Narine noted. "May I offer you to try something different? I am certain that you would look lovely in blue or yellow."

"No, black and white is sufficient for me," Maeteris stated plainly.

The Asari was about to argue when Kelly decided to speak on Maeteris' behalf. "It is a matter of tradition for Maeteris, her people's culture is rather strict about many things, the choice of clothing being one of them."

"Oh, I see," Narine nodded. "I apologize, Maeteris. I did not mean to cause offence."

"No apology is necessary, you had no way of knowing," the Farseer shook her head. She then nodded to Kelly, grateful for the human's quick thinking.

"Even so, I should have figured out that you're not an ordinary human. It is the first time I see one of your kind wearing such elaborate face markings," Narine said with a smile. "Are they also part your culture? I would love to hear more about it."

"Perhaps some other time," Maeteris said as she saw that Aylanee already prepared her second dress.

This one also required some additional tailoring, thus Maeteris had to wait for some time before the clothes were properly adjusted. Once the Asari were done, Maeteris decided to stay in her first dress for the rest of the shopping trip. To her relief, the shop's attendants did not pay any attention to the bag that contained her armor as their gazes were always fixed on Eldar herself.

"Are you certain that there is nothing else you would like to buy?" Narine asked as Kasumi paid for their clothes.

"No, this is more than enough for me at the moment," Maeteris replied.

"Then I hope to see you once again," the Asari bowed slightly. "You're always welcome here."

"Make sure to visit us next month," Sirria added cheerfully. "We are expecting a new collection of absolutely fantastic swimsuits… Ouch!" the girl squealed, probably because Narine pinched her under the counter. The Farseer saw that both Kelly and Kasumi were barely containing their laughter.

"I do not think I will need something like that in the near future. But I appreciate the offer nonetheless," Maeteris replied and turned to leave. As she made several steps towards the door, she heard a collective sigh of disappointment from the three Asari.

As they finally left the Alethine's Grace, the humans started to laugh loudly.

"Oh my God, did you see their faces?" Kelly asked them. "You have quite an effect on the Asari, Maeteris, and they don't even know that you're not a human!"

"True, I shudder to think how they are going to act when they find out," the Farseer agreed.

"I can guess. Sirria really wanted to see you naked, or at least in your underwear," Kasumi giggled.

"Yes, about that. Despite the last shop's wide collection, it lacked simple things like socks and... other essentials," Maeteris remarked. "Do you know where we can find those?"

"Essentials?" Kelly asked dubiously.

The Farseer sighed. "If you remember, I arrived here without any luggage. I was also wearing full body armor and an undersuit beneath it."

"Oh, you mean you're not wearing any... Oh!" Kelly gasped and immediately blushed.

"I guess we should have expected it," Kasumi added. "Come, I know just the place for this. Let's just drop our stuff in the car."

They left their bags in the limo and headed towards the next shop. This time it was one of the most bizarre shops the Farseer could imagine - it sold only women underwear. At first Maeteris wondered why it would require a dedicated shop for something like that but once she entered the store, she was surprised by the variety of female lingerie.

Maeteris was baffled as to why someone would need to create so many designs for a piece of clothing that could only be seen by the person who wears it. But then again, judging by how revealing the clothes of the local population was they probably expected to be seen at some point and wanted it to be fashionable. The aliens were really strange creatures sometimes.

The bright side of their visit to the lingerie store was that the shop's owner was not an Asari but human woman, who had a much greater understanding of privacy then the owners of Alethine's Grace. The Farseer found it to be ironic that she already preferred the company of humans to those of other aliens.

"Well, I'm glad that went without a hitch," Kasumi said once they left the shop. "So, Maeteris, do you need anything else?"

The Farseer shook her head. "No, I believe I have everything I..."

She stopped abruptly as she heard a familiar sound coming from somewhere nearby. A sound Maeteris hadn't heard for quite some time.

"Maeteris? Is everything alright?" Kelly asked her.

"Huh? Oh, yes. I just thought I heard something..." the Farseer shook her head. "Never mind, it must have been my imagination."

However, as soon as she finished those words, the sound returned.

"Or it was not. Can you please hold my possessions?" Maeteris said and gave to confused Kelly her bag.

She then started moving towards the relative source of the sound. It was sound Maeteris would've recognized anywhere - the sound of the Daena Kasra, an Eldar horn. There were two types of Kasra – the famous Isitha Kasra, the instrument of Wraitbone Singers that helped them shape the wraithbone, and the Daena Kasra – a simpler, civic version that was used as a musical instrument. Both instruments were usually crafted from wraithbone.

Obviously it was not made of wraithbone, the sound it made lacked the complex undertones the psychoreactive material helped to create. Still, it was unmistakably a Daena Kasra or at least an instrument very close to it.

The Farseer finally reached the building that was the source of the music - it was a shop called The Harmony. Maeteris entered the store and saw various instruments displayed there, most of them were alien in origin. But what actually caught Maeteris' attention was a group of Asari at the center of the store. Two of them were similarly dressed, most likely the shop's attendants, and they were listening to the third, an elegantly dressed Asari, play on what was a complete copy of an Eldar horn. And with certain skill, if Maeteris was to be the one to judge her.

Unsurprisingly, Maeteris did not recognize the melody, which meant that it was not written by an Eldar composer. It also meant that this instrument must have existed for quite some time. Could it be that the Asari or some other alien species had a musical instrument identical to that of the Eldar?

The Asari musician finished playing and was greeted with applause from both shopkeepers. She bowed slightly and looked at the horn in her hands.

"The craftsmanship is amazing, I will take it," the Asari addressed one of the attendants.

"Excellent. Could you please wait for me at the counter while I fetch a case for you?" The attendant asked.

"Certainly," the musician replied.

The two of them left while the remaining attendant turned around and finally registered the Farseer's presence. She smiled warmly and quickly approached Maeteris.

"Welcome to Harmony, ma'am. How can I be of assistance?" the Asari asked.

Maeteris did not reply but, simply waived the Asari away as she approached the stand with several horns.

"I don't mean to imply anything, but perhaps you would like to try something else," the attendant said as she followed Maeteris. "This is a traditional instrument of the Asari. I do not think that it will... suit you very well."

She was, of course, politely implying that Maeteris wouldn't know how to use this instrument, but she simply ignored the Asari. Chances were she was probably the most proficient horn-player in this entire dimension. Maeteris picked up a pearly-white horn and examined it.

It was heavier than its Eldar counterpart and as Maeteris looked closer, she saw the instrument was made out of an actual bone and covered in lacquer. Other than that, Maeteris could not detect any other significant differences.

The instrument brought back memories from Maeteris' youth. Happier memories from the times when the Farseer knew little about the horrors of war. Without thinking, Maeteris decided to try and play a couple of notes.

Of course, due to her lack of practice, her first try went disgustingly off-key. Maeteris heard the Asari behind her barely contain her laugh. Part of her wanted to snap at the alien and tell her that it was over a thousand years since Maeteris left the Path of Artist. But instead she reminded herself of the old breathing techniques she always used before playing the horn. Once she was ready, Maeteris played a short melody from one of her favorite pieces.

The room around her became deathly quiet.

Even though he instrument was not made by an Eldar artisan, the Asari who made it was a skilful craftswoman. Maeteris relished in the familiar sound it made and thus, without giving it a second thought, she began playing her favorite composition, one called 'The Dreams of Lileath'. The Farseer allowed herself to be lost in the familiar music, something she thought she might not hear ever again.

It was almost physically painful to finish playing and Maeteris was about to start another piece when she remembered that 'The Dreams of Lileath' was a rather long composition, over half an hour long. She probably looked rather stupid right now. Or so she thought.

Maeteris almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a flurry of applause behind her back. She quickly turned around and saw that the store was now filled with dozens of Asari and several humans. Both Kelly and Kasumi were among them. All these people must have entered the store while Maeteris wasn't watching. Embarrassed for being caught off guard in such a way, Maeteris remained calm however and bowed slightly to her unexpected audience.

Kelly was the first one to approach the Farseer. "Maeteris, this was amazing!"

"It was not," the Farseer shook her head. "It was probably my worst performance, but you will have to forgive me because I had little practice in past years."

"I was not aware that there were humans who played the athamere," the Asari musician said, clearly bewildered by this revelation. "I am sorry but who are you? And what was the name of the composition you played?"

"It is a very old piece, you would not know it," Maeteris replied. She took a piece of cloth from the horn's stand and wiped the instrument before placing the athamere back in its place.

"You didn't like it? Is there some flaw in it?" The shopkeeper asked, suddenly very eager to please her unusual client. "Perhaps you would like another one? I assure you, they are of the finest quality."

"No, there is nothing wrong with the instrument," Maeteris said and looked at the price. "I am not sure if we can afford it..."

"Yes, we can," Kasumi said rather insistently. "Maeteris, I told you not to think about the money."

"And there will be a discount for you!" the second attendant said with a smile.

"If there's a financial issue then I would love to cover the price for you," said one of the Asari from the crowd. "I would loath to see someone so talented to remain without an instrument of her trade."

Maeteris turned around to look at the Asari who offered to pay for the instrument. This one was more elegantly dressed and judging by her stance, much older than the rest of the aliens, most likely a Matriarch. Judging by her look, she was obviously attracted to Maeteris and wanted to use this gift to get a much closer acquaintance. The rest of the Asari in the crowd were looking at her with undisguised jealousy, obviously because they were similarly curious about the Farseer, but none of them could afford to easily buy such an expensive present.

Maeteris cursed herself inwardly. She tried to attract as little attention as possible and managed to do exactly the opposite. Last thing she needed was the crowd of overeager aliens following her around.

"I appreciate the gesture, but it will not be necessary," Maeteris told the Asari Matriarch. She turned to Kasumi and nodded. "Kasumi, I believe we have to be elsewhere."

"Oh yes, look at the time," the human said theatrically and addressed one of the shop's attendants. "Girls, we'll take this athamere. Wrap it up quickly, because we're seriously late."

Maeteris thought about objecting, but decided against it. The argument would only delay their departure and, to be perfectly honest, Maeteris wanted to have the instrument.

Once their purchase was made, the trio had to push their way out of the store. The Asari kept pestering the Farseer in many ways - some were taking pictures of her while others asked her different questions. What was her full name? Where was she performing? Did she have any recordings and where could they find them? The Asari musician even asked whether Maeteris would like to consider playing a duet at her next concert. The Farseer ignored them as she strode towards the sanctuary of the limo while her human companions tried to keep the most eager Asari at bay.

Their human driver reacted rather competently to the crowd's arrival - he quickly opened the passenger doors and as soon as all three were inside he closed the doors. Ignoring the crowd's insistent questioning, he quickly returned to his place and started the engine. The limo took off immediately, leaving a crowd of disappointed Asari below.

"That was... rather unexpected," the driver noted. "I almost thought that I failed to recognize someone famous among my passengers, but judging by the questions I was asked, the crowd didn't have a clue about your identity."

"And I would like it to remain that way," Maeteris stated.

"Certainly, ma'am. Our company values the privacy of our clients," the driver nodded. "What will be our next destination, ladies?"

"Back to the space port. I think we've had enough adventures for today," Kasumi replied.

"Certainly," the driver said and closed the shutter.

"Now, Maeteris, don't keep us in a suspense. Where did you learn to play like that?" Kelly asked curiously.

"As I once told Commander Shepard, I was not always a Farseer," Maeteris replied. "There was a time when I was an artist."

"But how did learn to play athamere?" Kasumi asked. "I mean, there aren't any Asari in your dimension. Or do Eldar have a similar instrument?"

"It appears that we do, which is unexpected," Maeteris said as she unsheathed the instrument once more. "Are you familiar with its origin?"

"I know that they are valuable and rare," the thief replied and activated her omni-tool. "Let's see what the Extranet has to say about it."

She tapped several keys and after a moment Kasumi started reading out loud. "Listen. Athamere, also known as the Horn of Athame, is an ancient traditional instrument of the Asari race. It dates back to time when the cult of Goddess Athame was first founded. The horn was essential part of the old Asari religion as the horn music was part of daily rituals to honor the Goddess. For a long time athamere was restricted solely for the clergy and only after a cultural revolution, common Asari were able to use the instrument, if they were able to afford it."

Kasumi continued. "The horn is considered to be one of the most expensive instruments in the galaxy, largely due to a manner of its creation and the material. The horn is carved from the bones of turate - a large whale-like creature that inhabits the oceans of Thessia. There are also very few carvers skilled in the craft. At certain point of history the athameres almost disappeared because the Asari government banned turate hunting when their population dwindled. However, with the advent of tissue cloning technology the production of the instruments continued once more."

"Oh, here is the important part," Kasumi said. "The instrument is considered to be a solely Asari instrument, mainly because it is extremely difficult to master, it takes many years to learn how to play even the most basic compositions. And it may take almost a century to become a proficient player. Due to the Asari's long age, they were the only ones who mastered the art of playing the athamere."

"It is true, it takes patience and dedication to master this instrument," Maeteris agreed. "My people call it Daena Kasra. The only difference is the material, our artisans use wraithbone instead. Other than that, it is the same instrument. Strange."

"It's not that strange, really," Kelly said. "There are dozens of human instruments that have similar counterparts among other races. Both humans and Asari have a harp. The Turians have daren – an almost complete copy of a mandolin. I believe the quarians have some kind of instrument that is very similar to humankind's piano."

"Let's not forget the drums!" Kasumi noted. "Everyone has drums, even the Hanar!"

"Yes, perhaps you're right," Maeteris nodded and looked at Kasumi. "I never thanked you properly, Kasumi. This is a truly precious gift for me and I will be forever grateful to you for it."

"You're welcome," Kasumi said. "Just promise to us that you will play more."

"I promise," the Farseer said with a nod. "It is the least I can do."

After that, Maeteris carefully placed the instrument back in its case. As she was doing it, the Farseer noticed that Kasumi started looking through the limo's rear window. It appeared that the human also noticed that their group was followed for quite some time.

"They are rather persistent, are they not?" Maeteris asked the thief.

"You noticed them as well?" Kasumi asked as she turned back. "Oh right, who am I asking, of course you noticed."

"Noticed whom?" Kelly asked, baffled by the conversation.

"Two salarians and an Asari," Kasumi replied. "They were tailing us since the trade center."

"Five salarians and the Asari," Maeteris corrected. "And they were following us ever since we entered the space port. The salarians split up and three of them followed Commander Shepard and her group. Do you know who they might be?"

"They're good; my guess would be that they are part of the STG," Kasumi said with a shrug and added. "They are the intelligence branch of the Citadel Council, if you didn't know that already."

"The rumors of what happened on Horizon probably reached the Council already," Kelly mused. "The STG was most likely sent to investigate."

"What about the Asari?" Maeteris queried.

The thief shrugged once again. "I haven't heard of any dedicated Asari intelligence service. She might be an agent of the Council of the Matriarchs. Or, hell, maybe even a Spectre."

"If that is so, this gives us an excellent opportunity," the Farseer declared.

"What do you have in mind?" Kasumi asked.

"I want confront the Asari and through her send a message to the Citadel Council," Maeteris replied.

"Alright, where do you want to do it?" Kasumi asked.

Maeteris looked out the window. "That park over there should be a perfect location."

Kasumi nodded and pressed com button. "Samuel, set us down at Serenity Park."

"At once, Miss Zhao," the driver replied.

In a few moments they landed at the edge of the park and the trio disembarked and slowly went deeper into the park, waiting for their pursuers to follow them. However, Maeteris only managed to take several steps before stopped, marveling at the sight before her.

It wasn't the park itself that stunned the Eldar. It was the children. So many children. It appeared that this park was favored by many families as a vacation spot. There were a lot of family pairs with children; some of them had two and even three children of different age.

Maeteris wondered if the aliens understood just how lucky they were. Something like this was impossible on Ulthwe, for Eldar children were rare. As every other Eldar woman, Maeteris had tried to have children of her own, but so far she wasn't blessed with any. In hindsight, it was probably for the best.

"Why do you glow?" A childlike voice interrupted the Farseer's musings. Maeteris looked down and saw an Asari girl in yellow dress looking curiously at her. The Farseer lowered herself on one knee and studied the child.

This youngling was different from the other Asari. Her psychic aura was much stronger, even though she was just a child. "_A latent psyker, perhaps?_" Maeteris thought to herself. Considering the nature of the Asari it wasn't all that surprising.

"That is a strange question, young one," Maeteris asked the Asari. "Tell me, am I the only one you see glow?"

"No, all Asari glow," the child replied. "But you are human and that is why it's strange that you glow."

Yes, she was definitely a latent psyker.

"I know you don't believe me," the young Asari continued. "I keep telling others about the glow, but they don't see it. They call me silly and say that I make things up."

"You are not silly, child," Maeteris said with a slight smile. "Those others say it because they do not see as much as you do."

"Why can't they see it?" the small Asari asked curiously. "I've seen the glow all my life."

"Maybe it's because you are special?" Maeteris suggested.

The child's face lit up. "I am?"

"Siara! There you are!" an adult feminine voice interrupted them. Maeteris looked up and saw two Asari approach them, both were clearly worried. One of them approached the child and gently picked her up. As she rose up, the Farseer realized that these were the child's parents, their family resemblance was now obvious.

"_Both parents are Asari. Interesting_," Maeteris thought to herself.

"Honey, we told you not to run too far away," Siara's parent told her daughter. "You had us worried for a moment."

"I am sorry, mother," Siara said as she hugged her mother's neck. "I just wanted to talk to the glowing lady."

The mother sighed and looked at Maeteris with an apologetic smile. "I hope Siara did not trouble you too much, madam. She tends to...say odd things from time to time."

The Farseer shook her head. "It was no trouble. You have an extraordinary daughter, she might have great destiny in the future. You both should be proud of her."

Siara's parents exchanged confused glances. Then her mother spoke. "Thank you. We always were and we always will be proud of her. Thank you for... briefly watching over our daughter, madam. Good day to you."

As they departed, Siara looked over her mother's shoulder and waived at Maeteris. "Goodbye, glowing lady!"

Maeteris raised her hand a bit and waived back.

"Aw, isn't she adorable?" Kelly asked behind her.

"She certainly is," Maeteris replied.

The Farseer once again felt that they were watched and it reminded her of the reason why they went to this park.

"They have followed us here. Good," Maeteris said as she turned back to her companions. "It is best that I talk to her alone. Wait here, this should not take long."

Both humans nodded and Maeteris left them as she went deeper into the park and away from the main alleys. Soon she found a lonely gazebo standing close to a lake. Maeteris decided that it was an excellent spot for her meeting. She entered the gazebo and sat down on a bench, allowing herself a brief but precious moment of peace as she enjoyed the view of the tranquil lake.

Soon enough the Farseer felt the Asari spy approach. The alien tried to stay hidden between the trees as she observed the Eldar. She was pointing some sort of device at Maeteris, most likely a camera.

Maeteris turned her head, looked directly at the Asari and spoke. "You may reveal yourself, Asari. Your attempts at hiding irritate my ears."

She felt the alien stiffen briefly before she started her careful approach towards the Eldar. Even though she was dressed in rather unassuming civilian dress, Maeteris knew she wasn't dealing with an ordinary observer. The Asari's stance and walk spoke of experience, so perhaps Kasumi was rather accurate in her evaluation of the alien.

"Interesting, how long you were aware of my presence?" the Asari asked as she approached Maeteris.

The Farseer gracefully stood up and regarded the Asari. "It was my belief that the Asari race considered themselves to be… cultured people. So far I have seen very little to support that claim."

Her response caught the spy off-guard and the Asari hesitated on what to do next.

"Perhaps you should start with a name," Maeteris advised. "Give me yours and I shall give you mine. I am sure that this is how two unfamiliar intelligent beings start a conversation."

"Tela Vasir," the Asari replied.

Maeteris nodded and took off her shawl, fully revealing her features. "As I am sure you were informed, I am Farseer Maeteris of the Craftworld Ulthwe."

"A pleasure to make an acquaintance," Vasir replied courteously. "Although I do not know why you think I should be informed about you."

"Stop this game of pretense. I am intelligent enough to know the difference between a simply curious observer and a trained spy," Maeteris said with an annoyance. "The question is, who are you spying for, Tela Vasir?"

"Spying is a rather crude term, wouldn't you agree?" Vasir said. "I was merely tasked by the Citadel Council to verify the rumors about your identity. Despite your deeds during the attack on Horizon, there were still some doubts about your nature, mainly due to many similarities between your people and humans."

"Do not allow our physical similarities to fool you, our people are as different as day and night," Maeteris noted neutrally.

"I understand," the Asari nodded. "I hope you'll forgive my lack of tact before. First contact with other species is not something I was trained to do."

"Do not concern yourself about it. It has been already done by your colleague, Commander Victoria Shepard," Maeteris said dismissively. "Your Council should commend her. Despite her brash human nature, she handled the entire affair expertly."

Vasir stiffened slightly at the mention of Shepard's name. "I will be sure to pass along your compliments."

"Good, and while you are at it, you will deliver my personal message to your Council," Maeteris quickly added.

"Message? What message?" Vasir asked.

"That their ignorance is not bliss," Maeteris replied. "And if they do not open their eyes soon enough, the bliss will become a nightmare."

"I am sorry, I don't understand," the Asari said.

"I am talking about the Reaper threat your leaders decided to ignore," Maeteris explained.

Vasir looked skeptical. "The Reapers. Don't tell me that you believed Shepard's stories?"

"I do not need to believe in any stories, I was in the mind of one," Maeteris replied. "It was a Reaper who led the assault on Horizon; the Collectors were nothing but pawns."

"The Council will need a bit more than that," Vasir said and crossed her arms.

"You will have to convince them then," the Farseer said simply.

"And what if I decide not to believe you?" the Asari asked.

"You will not have any choice," Maeteris said coldly as she took a step towards Vasir. "Prepare yourself."

"Prepare for what?" was all Vasir managed to ask before Maeteris placed a hand on Asari's head and invaded the alien's mind. Then the Farseer simply started pouring the vision she saw in the mind of Harbinger into Vasir's mind.

To give the Asari her due, Vasir realized what was going on and she didn't resist. Maeteris saw as Vasir's eyes became black and her mind opened up a little, making the transfer easier for both of them.

Once Maeteris was done she simply released her grip on the Asari, allowing Vasir to slump to the ground.

"What... was that?" Vasir asked. She was laboring for breath as she stood on her knees and hands. Although she looked like was about to be sick, to her credit the Asari managed to restrain herself from vomiting in front of Maeteris.

"You have seen the destruction of the Eldar people by the Reapers," Maeteris explained. "That is the proof you need. They vanquished my people, they vanquished the ones you call Protheans and countless others. And if your leaders do not act, you will be next on that list."

"If... If your people were destroyed, how come that you are here?" Vasir asked.

"Just like your superiors told you, I came from a different dimension," the Farseer replied. "A dimension where there were no Reapers to stop my people's ascension to the stars and where the Eldar ruled the Galaxy for millions of years."

Vasir stood up leaned on the gazebo's wall for support. "You will have to forgive me, but that's a little hard to wrap that around my head."

"That is because your perception of the Universe is limited. One day, your people will be among the first to understand that the world is far more complex than you originally thought," Maeteris said. "Trust me, if my people were alive, the Eldar would have been the dominant race. This would have been an Eldar colony and the presence of other species would have been merely tolerated."

"Is that really so?" Vasir asked with a defiant tone.

"It is," the Farseer stated. Her eyes began to shine with pure white light and she created a small aura of dread around herself, forcing the Asari to take a step back. "Have no doubt about it."

They stared at each other for a moment before Maeteris dismissed her aura and continued. "You have a daunting task ahead of you. I shall leave you to it."

She fixed her shawl back and turned away to leave.

"Wait!" Vasir called her out. "If Reapers are real then why don't you go straight to the Council with me? Surely you can convince them better than I can?"

Maeteris turned around. "One day I will present myself to your leaders. But I have committed myself to Shepard's cause, for at the moment she is one of the few who fights against the Reapers."

Vasir actually smirked. "Are you aware that Shepard was charged with treason? She is working for Cerberus; they're terrorists, enemies of the Council!"

"You really believe that, do you not?" Maeteris asked her. "Let me illuminate you then. Spectre Shepard does not work for Cerberus, she was forced working with them because everyone else has turned away. Nevertheless, she is still loyal to the ideals of her people and your precious Council, Cerberus is merely a resource for her."

Maeteris paused and then added. "Besides, you are hardly a person who has the right to judge her."

She felt as Asari stiffened inside, but tried to keep a neutral face. "I am not sure what you mean by that."

"You know precisely what I am talking about, Spectre Vasir," Maeteris said and stepped closer to the Asari. "Or should I say Shadow Broker agent?"

"How did you..." was all Vasir managed as backed away from Maeteris.

"You should really work on your mental barriers," Maeteris replied. "You were like an open book when I touched your mind. However, you did not give me a straight answer. Is Shadow Broker your master?"

"He's not, we're just business partners," Vasir replied.

"You speak those words, yet there is no certainty behind them," Maeteris said. "The Shadow Broker has some sort of leverage to ensure your cooperation, does he not? What if he tries to use it to force you to act against your people, what would you do then?"

"He wouldn't do that, that would be counterproductive," Vasir replied. "He's all about profit, not power."

"Once again, you avoid answering my question," Maeteris noted.

The Asari huffed. "As I said, we're partners. I swore an oath to Citadel Council to protect the peace of Citadel space and uphold the laws and ideals of the Citadel races. Whatever the cost."

"Spoken with conviction. I hope that when the time to make a choice comes, you will remember your own words," Maeteris said and turned to leave.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Vasir asked her.

"You will find out yourself," the Farseer said simply. "This meeting is over. Go and report to your masters."

Maeteris left the confused Spectre and went back to the spot where she parted with her companions. At least with one of them. After a few steps, Maeteris felt as her invisible guardian fell in step beside her.

"Your concern is appreciated, Kasumi, but there was really no need for that," the Farseer said as the thief deactivated her stealth suit. "I was in no danger."

"I know," Kasumi said with a shrug. "But Shep asked me to keep an eye on you and so I did. In any case, that was a rather illuminating conversation - the STG, the Council _and_ the Shadow Broker. The high and mighty of our Galaxy really took a notice of you."

"Vasir was not doing this on behalf of the Shadow Broker," Maeteris shook her head. "However, I am certain that after today his spies will not be too far away."

"You're right on that one," Kasumi agreed. "We really should warn Shepard about it."

"Indeed we should," Maeteris nodded.

They picked up Kelly on their way back and in few moments they were finally on their way back to the Normandy.

* * *

><p>Vasir watched silently as the Eldar and her companions' limo departed from the parking lot and wondered just how she was supposed to report all of this. There was enough proof to confirm that the Eldar was indeed a member of a different species and the matter of her arrival was most likely also true. However, that was the least of Vasir's worries. She was more worried about the fact that this Farseer managed to forcefully invade her mind with such ease. Only the most powerful of Asari Matriarchs were capable of something similar and as all Asari commandoes, Vasir was trained to resist such a thing. But the Eldar smashed through her defenses as if they weren't there. And now she probably knew Tela's every secret and could easily expose her.<p>

But even that wasn't the Spectre's main concern. The Reapers were. They were real. Commander Shepard had been right all along. It was now that Tela fully realized the gravity of the situation. Two years ago Shepard had claimed that they merely delayed the major invasion by destroying Sovereign. If one ship managed to cause such destruction, Vasir shuddered to think what an entire armada could do. Flashes from the vision of the Eldar's destruction appeared at the back of Tela's mind and for the first time in many decades, she was afraid.

Suddenly, Tela's musings were interrupted by several shouts and gasps behind her. She turned around to see what it was all about and saw people parting before something or someone moving through the crowd. Several parents picked up their children. As the crowd fully stepped aside, Vasir saw some sort of animal was running towards her. It wasn't anything native to Illium and it took a moment for her to realize that the animal was some kind of feline. Vasir knew that many types of felines were native to Earth, and that humans, and sometimes Asari as well, liked to keep smaller cats as pets.

This one however was too big to be a home pet. Its body was over a meter long and it had a long, fluffy tail that almost doubled the animal's overall length. It had a bright orange fur and bright blue eyes. There was also something eerie about the animal, but Vasir couldn't quite understand what it was.

Vasir also remembered that the bigger felines from Earth were sometimes known to attack humans. And since this particular animal was obviously running toward Tela at full speed, Vasir summoned her biotics and prepared to fend it off. However, instead of attacking, the feline slowed down and carefully approached the Spectre. It sniffed the Asari for a couple of times and then simply walked around Tela, as if Vasir wasn't the thing the animal was looking for. The feline approached the spot where the Eldar's limo was standing moments ago and sniffed the ground. Then it stared into the sky for a few moments before dashing forward in the rough direction of the Nos Astra's spaceport.

Vasir observed the rapidly retreating animal for a time and shook her head. As confusing as the animal's behavior was, Tela had far more pressing matters on her mind. However, as she started walking back to her apartment, Vasir made a mental note to herself to alert the Nos Astra Animal Control about a wild animal roaming the streets of the city.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Nos Astra spaceport, Normandy's hangar.<strong>

"Well, we should have expected that you would attract attention sooner or later," Gallardi heard Shepard say once Kasumi, Maeteris and Kelly finished their story.

"What should we do with Vasir, Shepard?" Garrus asked. "If she is the Shadow Broker's double agent, she could be real trouble."

"Yeah, but who's going to believe me?" Shepard countered. "While I fly under Cerberus colors, my accusations will just ring hollow. Still, it's good that we know about it."

The Commander turned to address the Eldar. "I also want to thank you, Maeteris, for sending a message to the Council. Who knows, maybe they'll listen to you."

"One way or another, they will," Maeteris said with a nod.

"Right," Shepard said and turned to address the crew. "We're done here, people. Crew, dismissed."

The people went about their business. Gallardi returned to his quarters and finished changing back into his uniform. Once that was done, August simply sat down on his bed and sighed heavily.

When he challenged Shepard today, Gallardi hoped that it would prove who was right and who was wrong. The Emperor was supposed to favor August and Shepard was supposed to fail spectacularly. However, it was not so. That last salarian they killed was not a proof that Gallardi was right; he was just in a margin of error. Despite being slightly tipsy, Shepard performed admirably in combat.

In fact, considering that Shepard was also clearly distraught by something that happened between her and T'Soni, the Commander actually had a handicap.

Gallardi didn't know what exactly transpired between Shepard and her Asari lover in that office, but he could speculate. Judging by how anxious Shepard looked prior her visit to T'Soni, this was their first meeting after Shepard was brought back to life. And it's likely that they failed to re-ignite their relationship.

August was now certain that whatever Shepard and Liara had before, it was something special. When Gallardi confronted Shepard about her drinking and the Commander reacted violently, August was actually surprised by how... righteous Shepard looked in her anger. In her eyes her eyes Gallardi saw the burning protective anger and a genuine promise of bodily harm should Gallardi decide to insult Liara in any way.

Some part of August wanted to tell Shepard that she was delusional, that the alien is using her and that xenos do not feel like humans do. But, he didn't say it because now he was certain that that would have been a lie. There were many instances that proved that deep down, the aliens were not so different from humans, they were capable of strong emotions. The Farseer on Horizon, those two quarians on Haestrom, the Asari widow on Illium. The last one actually had the greatest impression on Gallardi. He wondered why it was so important for her to retrieve that locket and make sure that her daughter remembered her father. Both of them were Asari, they would live for several centuries and will probably forget the human ever existed.

In the end however, Gallardi had to accept the simple truth – the was no hidden alien trickery, the Asari simply cared for, no, _loved_ her human husband deeply and didn't want to forget him and wanted her daughter to remember him as well.

Thus, all things considered, Gallardi could help but feel that he acted like a poorly towards Shepard. However, when he saw her drinking, an old hatred manifested itself. Officers drinking was something Gallardi detested and he felt that he had to explain himself to Shepard.

Gallardi stood up, fixed his uniform and went to Commander's quarters. However, before he reached the door of his cabin, EDI's voice came from a nearby dynamic.

"Captain, do you have a moment?" the AI asked.

"Yes, what is it?" Gallardi replied.

"I wanted to inform you that the translation of your files is complete," EDI said. "The files have been transferred to your terminal."

"Ah, thank you," August nodded and after few moments he added. "Actually, can you help me with something?"

_Five minutes later…_

Gallardi arrived to the first deck and stopped before the entrance to Shepard's quarters. He fiddled with the datapad in his hands for a moment before pressing the holographic lock on the door.

The door opened, but it wasn't Shepard who greeted Gallardi. It was the Turian, Garrus. August heard the quiet music coming from the room and as he glanced over Vakarian's shoulder, he saw Shepard sitting on the couch and pulling strings on her guitar. He also noticed that Tali'Zorah was present as well.

"No disrespect, Captain, but I think you're the last person she wants to see right now," Garrus said with obvious challenge.

"You're right, Vakarian. Nevertheless, I must speak with Commander Shepard," Gallardi said.

"And I'm telling you..."

"Let him in, Garrus," came the calm voice of Shepard.

The Turian nodded and stepped away, allowing Gallardi to come in. He passed the Commander's work desk and stopped at the edge of small stairs that led to private part of Shepard's cabin. August saw Garrus walk past him and take a seat on the couch near Shepard. The Commander herself continued to play, pausing only to adjust the strings a bit. August also noticed a half empty glass and a bottle standing on the table.

"For your information, Captain, I can't get drunk any longer," Shepard said simply. "Cerberus gave me implants that mean I could drink a krogan under the table and still remain sober."

Gallardi cursed himself inwardly. Had he known that, this whole situation could have been avoided.

"If that is the case, Commander, than I offer my apologies," August said. "I allowed my personal experience to cloud my judgment and spoke out if turn."

"Personal experience?" Tali asked.

"A junior officer if my regiment once lost all his wages to gambling and got drunk to try and forget about it," Gallardi explained. "During our next deployment his platoon sustained 98 percent casualties. Only he survived. I became several friends short that day and I vowed to never let that happen again."

Shepard silently continued to play for a moment before she spoke. "I see. In that case your apologies are accepted, Captain."

The awkward silence followed before Shepard continued. "However, we both know that my drinking wasn't the main issue, wasn't it?"

Gallardi nodded. "No, it wasn't."

He looked at Shepard's desk and noticed the picture of Liara standing there.

"You really care the… about her, don't you?" August asked.

Shepard chuckled darkly. "What's going to be next, huh? 'Shepard, do you remember the color of your own blood'?" the Commander asked, clearly mocking someone who asked her the same question before.

"I came here to resolve this conflict, not to complicate it further," Gallardi said with a frown.

"I'd like to believe that, Captain," Shepard said. "Tell me something then. What is it that makes you hate the aliens so much? What did they do to deserve Humanity's hatred? Because I refuse to believe that it's a simple blind xenophobia."

"To a certain level, it is," Gallardi replied. "We are taught to despise the alien the mutant ant the heretic as soon as we are old enough to understand words. Our most basic prayers, the ones that we teach our children, contain words that invoke hatred towards xenos."

"But why?" Shepard asked.

"Simple," August answered. "Such is the will of the Emperor."

Shepard snorted. "And that reply kills any possibility of further argument, doesn't it ? Because what could possibly I say against the word of a living god and a martyr?"

"Nothing. The will of the Emperor is absolute," Gallardi stated.

"But, once again, why? I mean, sure, Maeteris has issues but she is a good person, she helped us so much..."

"Ha, Maeteris," Gallardi chuckled sarcastically. "You would be a fool if you think that the rest of her people behave like her. Do you remember her attitude before she found out that there were no Eldar here?"

Shepard nodded.

"That was what might call the most polite speech of the average Eldar. Most of the time they simply ooze arrogance," Gallardi continued. "They despise everyone who is not Eldar. Remember the term she used, Mon-Keigh? Its rough translation means either "mammal" or "ape". Because that is how they see us - animals. I agree, they are probably not inheritably evil beings, but their sheer arrogance makes it impossible to notice that."

August went on. "Now let's see, who else could we consider good aliens? Oh yes, the tau! A relatively young race who peacefully offers everyone to become part of their so-called Empire. All you have to do is to accept their "Greater Good" concept and your world will be assimilated into Tau Empire."

"And if you don't?" Garrus asked.

"Very soon you will see the tau invasion force bearing down on your planet," Gallardi replied. "It's a 'join or die' offer wrapped in a fancy paper. This covers our 'good aliens' and you know the rest – Orks, Necrons, Tyranids. There are hundreds of other monstrous alien races like Q'orl, Llacrymole, Hrud and Loxatl, one is worse than the other. And let's not forget about the Dark Eldar."

"The Dark Eldar?" Shepard asked.

"The best explanation I can come up with is that the Eldar have their variation of heretics. Take everything good about the Farseer and replace it with viciously imaginative cruelty and you will get the picture of the Dark Eldar," Gallardi explained. "Now you know what kind of neighbors we have. You tell me whether our aliens deserve our hatred."

Shepard was silent for a moment. "I understand your point, Gallardi. I really do. But I want you to try and understand mine. Just look around you. Garrus and Tali here, they stood with me against impossible odds when the rest of the galaxy turned away. And they are just the two of many. They are good people, they are my friends and I will gladly give up my life for any of them."

"And so will I," Garrus added.

"And me as well," Tali spoke.

"I know you're thinking, Captain, that Tali and Garrus are only two such aliens, that the majority will always care only about their own species and their interests," Shepard sighed. "And you're right to a certain point. In fact, I am certain that one day we might end up in a similar position your Imperium is now, where everyone are for themselves. It is inevitable, it will happen either from overpopulation or shortage of resources and territory, I don't know. But I know that it will not happen tomorrow. It will happen after thousands of years and during that time there can be peace. That peace is the thing I will always fight for."

"I know it is hard for you to believe in it, but we can live peacefully together, and we can achieve great things if we work together," Shepard said.

"You make a valid point, Shepard," Gallardi sighed. "I'll try to believe you, Commander, but I'm not making any promises. I am what I am, I trust in the wisdom of the Emperor above everything else."

"Sometimes and honest effort is all that is needed," Shepard said.

August nodded and extended his hand towards Shepard. "Shall we declare a ceasefire then, Commander Shepard?"

"I would even agree on a peace treaty and a military alliance," Shepard said with a slight smile as she accepted his hand.

"Well, glad that you managed to resolve this without another fight," Garrus said as he leaned back on the couch. "Although I must say that this was rather illuminating, Captain. You really have prayers that tell you to hate all aliens?"

"To be impure – that is the mark of the xenos. To be abhorred - that is the mark of the xenos. To be reviled - that is the mark of the xenos. To be hunted - that is the fate of the xenos. To be purged - that is the fate of the xenos. To be cleansed - that is the fate of all xenos," Gallardi recited simply.

"Yeah, that was rather intense," Garrus chuckled.

August shrugged. "What can I say? The Imperial Cult teaches us that hatred is the Emperor's greatest gift to Mankind."

"Well, as long as you direct your hatred towards Collectors and the Reapers, we should get along just fine," Shepard said.

"Will do," Gallardi nodded. "Makes me wonder what I am going to do once we defeat those two."

Shepard snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, Gallardi. Even if we defeat the Reapers, peace wouldn't last long. There will always be someone you can hate – mercs, pirates, slavers…"

"And let's not forget about the Batarians," Garrus added.

"Yes, the Batarians! How could I forget?" Shepard said. "Those you can start hating right now because I can't stand the four-eyed freaks myself."

"Aha! So there is some proper alien hate in you after all," Gallardi said with a chuckle. "All is not lost then."

"Yeah. A race that justifies slavery because it is 'an important part of their culture'?" Shepard asked. "I'm not a racist, but the Batarians can burn in hell for all I care. And I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me."

Gallardi saw Garrus nod. "I've only met one Batarian who deserved some respect. Every other was either a smuggler, a terrorist or a slaver. Most of them are now dead."

"Batarian raiders are constantly harassing the Flotilla," Tali added. "So no, I don't like them either."

"So, all we need now is to ensure that the Batarians survive the war with Reapers so that I could wage a personal crusade against them until my last days," Gallardi concluded. "Speaking about crusades…"

Gallardi offered Shepard his datapad.

"What is it?" Shepard asked as she took the device.

"A gift. Do you remember when we had a talk with the Illusive Man and I told that he complemented you?" August asked the Commander.

"Yes, I do," Shepard nodded. "You still haven't explained the meaning of the compliment though."

"I'm about to," Gallardi said and cleared his throat. "You see, it appears that the Illusive Man was so impressed by your ability to lead and inspire your troops that he compared you to none other, but Saint Macharius himself."

"Oh? I feel like I should be humbled by the comparison, but unfortunately I don't know who Saint Macharius was," Shepard replied.

Gallardi laughed. "If you were an Imperial citizen, I would have called you a savage. Saint Macharius, who was better known as Lord Commander Solar Macharius, was the best and the most successful commander of the Imperial Guard ever. His tactical and strategic genius was similar to that of the ancient Primarchs and, as many like to say, second only to the Emperor himself."

"O-o-okay, now I feel humbled," Shepard said as she looked at the datapad. "And this datapad contains?"

"His biography and the narration of his greatest conquest - the Macharian Crusade," August explained. "It was the second most successful Imperial Crusade since the Great Crusade."

"How successful are we talking here?" Garrus asked.

"Macharius brought a thousand words under Imperial control," Gallardi replied.

"A thousand worlds?!" Tali gasped. "It's like conquering the entirety of Citadel Space several times over. How much time it took?"

"The Macharian Crusade lasted seven years," August replied with a satisfied smile.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him.

"In that case it will be impossible for me to live up to such a high standard," Shepard stated.

"You said it yourself - sometimes an honest effort is all that is needed," Gallardi said with a shrug. "Read the book, it will teach you much."

"I most definitely will," the Commander said. "Thank you, Gallardi. For everything."

"Don't mention it, Shepard," Gallardi replied. "I shall take my leave then. There are matters I must I attend to."

Shepard dismissed him with a nod and Gallardi left her quarters.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Nos Astra, Illium.<strong>

M'tarr could not believe how both lucky and unlucky she was at the same time.

She was lucky because she knew that an incredibly powerful Gifted one was somewhere here, on this world. And not only on this world, but somewhere really close.

M'tarr was also unlucky because she knew that the said Gifted one probably passed through the small forest where M'tarr now lived, but M'tarr didn't notice her because she was taking a nap. When she woke up she immediately noticed the Gifted one's presence and rushed to meet her.

M'tarr was late, however. It seemed that the Gifted used one of the smaller metal birds to transport him or herself towards one of the glass and metal mountains. And M'tarr was familiar with that particular mountain - it was the place where giant birds of metal roosted. It explained how the Gifted arrived on this world, she probably tamed one of the giant metal birds.

It also meant that the Gifted could leave this world at any moment, and M'tarr would be stranded here once again, possibly for a long time. This, M'tarr could not allow to happen.

She stopped briefly to orient herself when suddenly a sense of danger filled her. M'tarr instinctively jumped towards the nearest cover and as she did so, M'tarr heard a faint clinking sound behind her.

She turned around and saw a small sting like thing lying in the place where she stood moments ago. M'tarr immediately recognized it as the same thing that made her unconscious back on Moarheff. She looked around as she tried to identify her attacker and saw a smaller metal bird hovering nearby. A Dull one with a sting thrower was leaning out of the bird's innards.

M'tarr quickly realized the Dull one's intentions - she wanted to capture M'tarr. M'tarr snarled at the Dull one and waved her tail threateningly. The Dull one, however, remained unfazed by M'tarr's threats as she lined up her sting thrower once again. M'tarr was ready this time however and she dodged the sting with ease.

As M'tarr was looking for a way to reach her hovering attackers, a distant roar reached her ears. She looked up in the sky and saw as one of the giant metal birds departed from its roost and flew into the sky. M'tarr knew that Gifted one could be flying on that very bird and M'tarr's chances of meeting the Gifted one were either already nonexistent or evaporating with each passing moment.

Thus, instead of fighting the Dull ones, M'tarr dodged another sting and then dashed towards the roosting place of giant birds, hoping that she wasn't too late.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Alright, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. Tune in next time for more Illium Adventures and even more asari!_


	17. Illium Adventures Part 3

**Chapter 17: Illium adventures part 3**

**Location: Normandy SR-2.**

Gallardi exited the elevator on the Combat deck and immediately ran into Shepard's yeoman. The woman clearly had time to change because she was once again wearing her regulation uniform.

"Captain Gallardi, do you have a moment?" the woman asked him.

"Yes, Chambers, what is it?" August replied.

"I was just informed that you and Commander Shepard had some kind of conflict during the mission," Kelly said. "Is that true?"

"Yes it is, however I believe that we managed to resolve the matter," Gallardi replied.

"Oh, I see. I'm glad that you did," the woman said cheerfully. "How is she right now?"

"She is with her friends and she was smiling once I left her," August shrugged. "I suppose we could say that she is better than she was a couple of hours ago."

"I suppose you are correct," Kelly nodded. "Well, I shall not keep you any longer. Thank you for your time, captain."

"Not a problem," Gallardi said and pointed with his thumb at the doors to the tech lab. "Is professor Solus in there?"

"He hasn't left since yesterday," the yeoman replied. "Those Orks must've really stolen his attention."

"Can't possibly imagine why," Gallardi muttered as he went to the Tech lab.

As he entered, Gallardi saw the Salarian sitting at his workplace with his eyes shut. Various datapads littered the desk. At first August thought that the alien was lost in thought but as he got closer Gallardi realized that Mordin was firmly sleeping.

"Professor Solus?" Gallardi spoke but received no response. He cleared his throat as he spoke louder. "Professor Solus!"

"What, what?" the Salarian woke up with a start. "Fell asleep! Time? Slept for three hours! Completely unacceptable!"

He looked around and finally registered Gallardi's presence. "Captain Gallardi. Back already? Was mission successful? Any casualties?"

"We were successful. No casualties," August replied.

"Good," Mordin nodded and started gathering his datapads. "Size of the team was greatly reduced. Was concerned that my absence compromised the unit's efficiency."

"There was no cause for concern," August told him. "Those mercs were pushovers."

"If compared to what you used to fight, they most likely were," Mordin said and pointed at his terminal. "These Orks are a real menace."

"They are," Gallardi nodded. "How goes your research?"

"Not entirely conclusive. Little research material. Would've preferred to observe a live specimen. Or at least a cadaver to perform tests," Mordin replied. "Still, have enough data to forward a hypothesis about Orks' nature and origins."

"And what is your hypothesis?" Gallardi asked him.

"Orks are an artificially created race," the Salarian said simply. "Most likely created by the Old Ones, considering the fact that they were not new to such thing. The time period also supports my theory."

"So in addition to the Dark Gods we should also thank the Old Ones for the Orks' existence? Figures," Gallardi snorted.

"Antagonism understandable but I'm with the Farseer on the matter. It seems that the war against the necrons and the C'tan called for most desperate measures," Mordin speculated. "Likely the Orks were created as disposable troops. They are a living weapon, not a race. Explains the lack of technological progress. Your scientists speculate that only a small amount of Orks have any knowledge of technologies. Can speculate that it is actually a genetic trait, not a result of evolution."

Mordin continued. "And another fascinating trait - their technology will rarely work if wielded by a non-Ork. All because of a special psychic aura all Orks have, the so-called..." the Salarian stopped and looked the term up. "Waaagh. Not certain if pronunciation is correct."

Gallardi chuckled. "You got it right, except that you should shout it. It's also an Orkish battle cry. A great army of greenskins is also called Waaagh. And it probably means a dozen other things."

"I see. Limited vocabulary, probably rely on the context," Mordin made additional notes. "Fascinating creatures, simple yet complex at the same time."

"You sound like you admire them," August noted.

"Admire the work of the Old Ones, not the Orks themselves," Mordin shook his head. "Being able to create a sentient organic life form from scratch is a pinnacle of genetic science."

"Those Old Ones did a shoddy work if you ask me," Gallardi said with a snort.

"Perhaps it was not intentional? Perhaps their work was not finished or was interrupted by the necrons?" Mordin speculated. "Or, as I said before, it was a desperate measure. The Eldar sacrificed the rest of their people to deliver a final blow against the Reapers. How far the Imperium of Man would go when it faces the impossible odds?"

"Point taken," Gallardi said dourly because he knew all too well just how far the Imperium could go.

The Salarian didn't press the matter further. "Make no mistake, not trying to justify the existence of Orks. Quite the contrary. If Salarian people faced the same threat, would have advised nothing else but the Orks' total destruction."

"It's not like you would've had any choice if you were facing Orks," August snorted.

"Indeed. Worse than the Krogan, cannot be reasoned with. No display of force would dissuade them from war, would actually only encourage them," Mordin shook his head. "Can speculate that the Orks' thirst for fighting and conflict is a genetic trait, a reflex like breathing. Destruction is the only logical solution. Can never fully justify war but with Orks it's not exactly a war. More like a disposal of a dangerous weapon."

"What about your statement that all life is precious, no matter the race?" Gallardi asked him.

"Said before - Orks are not a race but a living semi-intelligent weapon," Mordin replied. "Were created as tools for destruction. Intelligent servants can sometimes evolve past their primary function and become something more - the geth are a clear evidence. Agreed, not the best example but still - from complex mechs they evolved into a sentient race and it took them only a few years. The Orks had not evolved in over sixty million years. Chances they would evolve after another sixty million - virtually non-existent. Must be disposed of - not very different from an unexploded fission bomb left after a great war - it takes space, it poisons the ground and is a great threat to everyone."

"That's an interesting viewpoint," August had to concede.

"Practical logic, nothing more," Mordin shrugged. "In any case, grateful for the opportunity to study them. Also, calculated that the rest of the translation should be finished by now. Would appreciate having another case to study."

"Try Tyranids next," Gallardi suggested.

"Ah yes, the hive creatures from another galaxy who consume everything in their path. We had a bit similar species - the Rachni," the Salarian said. "Certain that the scale was not the same, but the same principle. No sure if will find the Tyranids to be very interesting."

"Something tells me that you will," Gallardi said and looked up. "EDI, please upload the documents relevant to Tyranids."

"Uploading now, captain," EDI replied.

"Intrigued," Mordin said as he watched the upload. "Thank you, captain. Now, certain you didn't come to discuss my research or the ethics of war. Something I can help you with?"

"Yes, I wanted to know the status of the ammunitions for my plasma weapon," Gallardi replied. "We were on Illium for almost a day, so..."

The Salarian stared at him for several seconds before replying. "Forgot. Getting old? Will have to make a brain scan and check for neural degradation. Apologies, captain, got carried away by the Orks research. Will make the arrangements right now." Mordin said and started typing furiously.

After a couple of minutes Mordin stopped and declared. "Done. EDI, maximum priority for the requisition order I just placed."

"I've already made the arrangements," the AI replied. "I estimate the delivery of all requested materials and equipment within six standard hours."

"Excellent," Mordin nodded and turned to Gallardi. "You will have a steady supply of ammunition by the end of the next day. Until then suggest you avoid contact with hostile heavy mechs and infantry fighting vehicles."

"No promises there," Gallardi said with a chuckle.

"Good," the Salarian nodded. "Anything else?"

"As a matter of fact there is. Recently we discovered that both our groups on Illium were shadowed by STG operatives," Gallardi told him. "You wouldn't know anything about that?"

"If asking whether it was I who tipped them off, the answer is no," Mordin replied nonchalantly. "Not surprised that you encountered them however. Can speculate that Chief Williams reported back to Systems Alliance and they shared information with the rest of the Council. Dispatch of STG is a natural reaction, mainly because of Farseer Maeteris. Unknown species, first encounter. Still, somewhat certain that you attracted more attention than the Eldar."

"Me? Why?" August asked him.

"Laser weaponry. Before your arrival, the Salarian Union had the most advanced laser technologies in civilized space," Mordin elaborated. "Now this advantage no longer exists. Likely they are trying to figure out a way to retrieve your weapon."

"Over my dead body," Gallardi promised.

"Unwise course of action, yes. The casualty rate will be high," Mordin said with a nod. "Also, very unlikely they would try something. You're part of Shepard's crew, who, despite everything, is a Council Spectre. STG wouldn't risk a conflict with Spectres."

"I see," August said and after a moment of consideration he added. "What about you? Do you want to find out the weapon's secrets?"

"Already said it before, captain. Here to help, not to steal your secrets," the Salarian replied indignantly.

"Yes, I remember that, but why?" Gallardi asked him. "I mean, they are your people. Surely you don't want your race to be at a disadvantage."

"No," Mordin replied simply. He then turned around and stared at the stars through the observation window. "However, did more than enough for both STG and the Salarian Union in the past. Not proud of everything. Will have to cope without me this time."

August studied the alien. Of course he couldn't tell whether the Salarian was genuine or simply telling him an elaborate lie. However, some innate feeling told him that Mordin wasn't lying, that he was not a spy. He was a Salarian equivalent of Magos Vasserman - an old excitable savant, who did everything in the name of science. August knew that since he trusted this alien on several occasions, he might as well trust him a bit further.

"Will there be anything else?" Mordin asked Gallardi as he turned away from the window.

"One more thing, if you don't mind," August replied. "How familiar are you with mass effect technology?"

"Not my main specialty," Mordin replied. "However, work in the STG requires extensive knowledge of the modern tech, including mass effect fields. Interested in some particular application of this technology?"

"Yes, on Illium I saw thousands of aircars. I assume that all of them use a small mass effect core as anti-grav engine, correct?"

"Mostly. Mass effect cores only reduce the vehicle's mass," the Salarian explained. "Small jet engines are used for propulsion."

"Ah, I get it. Say, has anyone considered making even smaller devices? The size of a backpack, for example?" Gallardi queried.

Mordin studied him for a moment and then smiled. "Professional interest as a grav trooper, correct? Expected of you to bring up the issue one day. Yes, prototypes of such devices were made in the past. Were never used widely however. Troop deployment by shuttles and gunships is considered to be much safer. Also, Turians and Krogan sometimes use personal drop pods but those are usually reserved for Special Forces and shock assaults."

"But you said there were prototypes. Who made them?" Gallardi asked eagerly.

"STG considered using them for covert drops. However, the operation required long and rigorous training regime," Mordin replied. Then he inhaled deeply and continued. "Also, high-altitude jumps put great stress on the wielder. Also grants little protection against possible AA fire. Were considered impractical and used mostly to covertly deliver supplies."

"Little protection? Yes. High stress during high-altitude jumps? Oh, yes. Rigorous training regime? You don't know the half of it, Professor," Gallardi mused out loud. "So, do you know how to make one?"

Mordin looked at him incredulously. "Must have poorly stressed my point. Again, usage of grav-chutes was considered too dangerous..."

August stopped him with a wave of the hand. "A hundred and nine low-orbit drops. I have passed the 'it's too dangerous' threshold a very long time ago."

Mordin actually sighed. "Humans' casual disregard of their own safety will never cease to amaze me. Fair enough, will build you a grav-chute. However, must remind you that it's still a prototype, thus not truly finished. You have experience with similar devices; perhaps you will have suggestions on how to improve its construction?"

"Yes but first let's see what your people managed so far," Gallardi nodded and the two of them went to work on the blueprint.

An hour later, Gallardi left the Lab quite satisfied with the results of his visit. He and Mordin managed to outline the preliminary blueprint for a new grav-shute. Essentially it resembled the Harakon pattern grav-chute Gallardi used during his days in the Guard with the only exception that anti-grav unit was replaced with a small mass effect core. This actually only improved the device because after finishing the blueprint they tasked EDI to calculate the expectable size and weight of the grav-chute, it turned out that the device will be roughly fifteen percent smaller and 5 kilograms lighter than the Harakon pattern.

However, even after adding all of August's suggestions, Mordin was still skeptical about it, stating that it was still rather unwieldy and dangerous and that the wars the Imperium fights must be really desperate if they use such devices in mass. Gallardi didn't comment on that: if the aliens were too afraid to use the grav-chutes than it was just fine in August's opinion. The last thing the Salarians needed to know was tactical potential of well-deployed grav-trooper unit.

Gallardi used the elevator to travel to the third deck. As he exited the lift, he was greeted by the sound of peaceful music. August turned to his right and saw that the door to the starboard observation deck, which was also one of two recreation modules on the Normandy, was open and a couple of crew members were standing in the doorframe. The observation deck was also the place where the music was coming from.

Gallardi quietly approached the opened door and looked inside. The great part of the crew was gathered inside, including Miranda, Kasumi and Jacob. The Eldar was here as well and she was actually the reason of this gathering. The Farseer stood in front of the observation window as she played on her recently purchased instrument.

Since his curiosity was satisfied, Gallardi thought about leaving, but he couldn't find any reason as to why he should. He had nothing else planned for today. And even though August was a plain guardsman, it wasn't above him to enjoy quality music. Funny enough, part of Gallardi expected the alien music to be a terrible cacophony not suitable for human ears but it was not so. The Eldar music was rather pleasing. In fact, it made him feel a bit homesick because the sound the Eldar's instrument made was somewhat similar to hunting horns of Harakon's vapour wyrm hunters.

Gallardi studied the Eldar woman. It was interesting just how little humanity knew about the Eldar despite a ten millennia-long war between the two species. Was it even a ten millennia war or was it longer? Was humanity always at war with them? August had no way of knowing that. All he knew is that he learned more about the Eldar in the last few days than he could have learned from Inquisitorial archives. He knew it was probably very wrong but there was a small part of him that was fascinated by these aliens. Despite all their wrongdoings and crimes against the Imperium they were still an ancient and elaborate people. The fact that they existed for sixty million years was a great feat by itself. No matter how great Imperium's achievements are, it could never truly call itself superior until it survives for the same amount of time.

Gallardi wondered what the Imperium would be like after sixty million years. Would the humans be like the Eldar - all-powerful, aloof, arrogant and condescending beings who simply tolerate the presence of anyone non-human? As ironic as it was, Gallardi was somewhat certain that it would be the most likely future for mankind.

It was disconcerting how different and at the same time similar both Eldar and humans were. Of course, none of the two would ever admit that. However, there was one more thing Gallardi would admit - some of the Eldar were skillful musicians. He had stayed for the rest of the Farseer's performance and by the end of the day he had to admit that it wasn't the worst of evenings he had.

* * *

><p><em>The next day. Shepard's cabin...<br>_

_Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep..._

"No, go away," Victoria told to the source of the hideous sound. "I'm on assignment. Spectre business..."

_Beep, beep, beep, beep..._

"Fine, you win," Shepard said with a groan and turned the alarm clock off. "You should be glad I don't have my omni-tool with me..."

She sat on her bed and rubbed her eyes. Despite everything that happened yesterday, Victoria managed to get some sleep. She was still distraught about her breakup with Liara but it was a lot easier already. The support of Tali and Garrus helped greatly, Shepard was glad that she had such great friends. Both of them were determined to talk with Liara about the whole situation but Victoria managed to talk them out of it. Things were now pretty certain and, as Gallardi indirectly reminded her yesterday, Shepard still had a duty to do.

Victoria stood up, stretched her limbs a bit and went to have a shower. Before she reached it however, EDI's blue "head" appeared from her emitter.

"Good morning, Commander Shepard," the AI said. "Do you have a moment? There is a matter that needs your attention."

Shepard sighed. "EDI, can it wait for at least ten minutes?"

"It depends. There is a call for you from Dr T'Soni," EDI replied. "Shall I tell her to call back later?"

Victoria's heart actually a beat. "Stop it, Liara knows when you usually wake up. She probably calls because she has intel on either Samara or Thane Krios." Shepard told herself inwardly.

"No, I'll take the call. Just give me a minute, okay?" Victoria asked the AI.

"Certainly, Commander," EDI replied and blinked out.

Shepard quickly dressed and then sat down at her desk. Before she activated her terminal, Shepard noticed her reflection in the glass panel of her ships' stand. She quickly licked the palms of her hands and straightened her unruly hair a bit.

"Right, EDI. Put Liara through." Shepard said as she activated her terminal.

"Acknowledged," the AI replied.

In a second Liara's face appeared on the monitor.

"Good morning, Victoria," the Asari said. "Sorry for such an early call."

"It's alright, Liara. I just woke up," Shepard assured the Asari. "Is everything alright? You sound worried."

"You could say that. But first I wanted to tell you that I have located the people you were looking for," Liara informed her. "Both of them are indeed on Illium and in Nos Astra as well. I am not aware of their specific location but I know people who can point you in the right direction."

"Great, send me the details," Shepard said with a nod. "As I understand this is not the issue you're worried about. What's wrong?"

"There were some developments since yesterday, some of them concern your current crew members," Liara replied carefully. "I cannot tell you the specifics, not over this channel. Can you see me in my office, preferably as soon as possible? I will make sure that we can speak there."

"Huh, alright. I'll be there in, say, one hour. Is that ok?"

"Yes, certainly." Liara said with a nod. "Just make sure you do not go alone and that you are well armed."

"Sure, but why?" Victoria asked.

"Let's just say that for you Illium is not as safe as it was yesterday," the Asari replied.

"I can't tell how ironic that statement is," Shepard said with a chuckle.

"Yes, I have heard about your conflict with the Eclipse," Liara nodded. "Be wary, Shepard. They have a large presence here on Illium."

Victoria grinned. "Hey, it's me, remember? See you soon, Liara."

"Stay safe, Shepard," Liara said and ended the call.

Victoria sighed and then used her terminal to activate the ship's PA.

"Attention crew, this is Shepard. I've just received an update on our remaining recruits. This means that our recruitment drive is on the roll once again. All ground-team members that are not engaged in critical matters around the ship are to gear up and report to the main airlock in forty minutes," Shepard announced. "Also, be advised that situation in Nos Astra might have deteriorated a bit, so prepare accordingly. That is all."

With that, Victoria stood up and went about her own preparations.

_Thirty minutes later, Normandy's cockpit..._

When Victoria reached the main airlock, the greater part of the team was already assembled. Miranda, Kasumi and Jacob were standing alongside Grunt, whose armor was as good as new. Gallardi was also there, although he stood a bit apart from the others, probably because most of the people present were not aware of the discussion the captain and Victoria had yesterday. To show her team that there was no resentment between them, Victoria smiled a bit and greeted the man first.

"Morning, Gallardi," Shepard said with a nod and then addressed the rest of the team. "Morning, guys. Are you all set?"

There was a chorus of confirmations and the air of tension quickly evaporated. Miranda was the first to speak up.

"Shepard, you said that the situation deteriorated on Illium. How far deteriorated?"

"I don't know the details, but it's not a war zone yet," Victoria shrugged. "Probably has something with our yesterday antics."

"You think that the Eclipse might want to retaliate?" the brunette asked.

"We wiped out one of their platoons. Liara says they have sizable presence here so I wouldn't put it past them."

"Understood," Miranda nodded. "Who are we looking for today?"

"Not sure right now, Liara said she has intel on both," Victoria replied. "Krios, as you probably guessed, is here because someone ordered a hit on someone. Samara seems to be pursuing some criminal. So I was leaning towards getting Thane."

"Yes, because as soon as he performs the hit he will disappear for some time and tracking him down will be almost impossible," Miranda agreed.

"While the Justicar will most likely need time to track down her criminal," Shepard continued.

There was a sound elevator door's opening and Victoria turned to see four people step out of it. Zaeed and Jack along with both Tali and Garrus quickly approached the rest of the group. The latter two were armed and were obviously intent on joining Shepard in this mission.

"Don't tell me that the big gun is already finished," Shepard addressed both of her friends.

"Not exactly," Tali replied. "The installation is complete, the weapon needs to be connected to the power grid and that is something Donnelly can do on his own."

"And after that I will need to properly calibrate the thing or the first shot will fry most of our capacitors," Garrus added. "Common problem when you try to put the prototype Turian cannon on a human-made ship."

"I see," Victoria nodded. "So you two decided to go out and have some fun?"

"You said it yourself, Illium is more dangerous right now," Tali replied.

"And besides, we wanted to stop by Liara's place and say hello," Garrus added.

"Guys, we discussed this already..." Shepard said with a slight frown.

Garrus raised his hand. "Shepard, I'm not backing down on my word. Just want to meet Liara again. We haven't talked for almost two years. That's all."

"Alright. Well, it's good that you're coming," Victoria said as a new plan of action formed in her mind. "This way we could split up and..."

She wasn't able to finish the sentence because the elevator opened again and, to Victoria's great surprise, Maeteris stepped out of it. The surprise quickly became a sense of apprehension because the Eldar was fully armored and carried her helmet in the crook of her hand.

"...And we're going to need bigger guns," Shepard muttered and turned to Jacob. "Taylor..."

"Already on it," the man replied as he went to retrieve the heavy weapons.

"Right. Next, Grunt," Victoria asked the Krogan. "You can have the flamethrower as long as you promise you will behave yourself."

"I will!" Grunt replied will great enthusiasm.

"Good, go get it!" Victoria said and the Krogan thundered towards the armory. "What else? Oh, I should order Goldstein to warm up the Kodiak..."

"The last piece is not really necessary," Maeteris, who finally approached the group, said to Victoria. "You will not need such firepower."

"Yet you're here. Which means we'll probably end up fighting an army, right?" Shepard contradicted.

"I am here not because we are about to face insurmountable odds," the Farseer shook her head. "Only because the circumstances will require my presence."

Shepard stared at her for a moment. "I guess there is a small chance that you will reveal those circumstances."

"You will find out when the time is right," Maeteris replied. "Besides my presence will help you split our forces accordingly."

"Yes, with you it will be rather simple," Victoria said with a smile. "Team A - Maeteris. Team B - everyone else."

There rest of the team chuckled at the notion.

"You're not worried about getting too much attention from the locals?" Victoria asked the Farseer.

"I have faced far worse things than few untoward aliens, Commander," Maeteris replied evenly. "As I have stated before, my presence is required today."

"True, but with that armor on you will..." Shepard began to contradict, only to stop when the Farseer recreated the disguise she used yesterday.

"Point taken. Alright, I guess we're all set then," Shepard said once she saw that both Jacob and Grunt returned from the armory. "I suppose Mordin is still busy with..."

"Coming, coming!" the Salarian shouted jovially as he appeared in the armory's doorway. He adjusted his weapons and quickly approached the group. "Apologies for the delay. Almost got carried away once again. Ready when you are, Commander."

"Alright, let's move out, people," Victoria ordered and the team marched out of the airlock. "I see the Orks really stole your attention, professor."

"Huh? No, not the Orks," Mordin shook his head. "Quite interesting creatures, but nothing compared to Tyranids."

"I thought you were studying Orks," Shepard noted with confusion.

"He finished them yesterday and asked for another dose. I gave him Tyranids," Gallardi said and turned to Mordin. "Told you, you would find them interesting."

"Yes, yes. Absolute masters of genetics," the professor agreed. "Capable of tailoring themselves to suit any environment. But, what's more important, capable of consuming the genes of other species and creating hybrids."

Gallardi snorted. "Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm."

"What kind of hybrids?" Miranda asked.

"Professor Solus refers to the most dangerous and disgusting ability of the Tyranids - they create abominations we call genestealer hybrids," Gallardi elaborated. "They are a terrible fusion of human and Tyranid."

"How is that even possible?" Miranda asked skeptically. "They are two different species!"

"Correction: two different species from two different galaxies. The process is quite interesting. First, a Tyranid implants a member of other species with specific parasitic implant that slowly integrates itself into the organism of a carrier. The implanted person might not even know about it," Mordin eagerly explained. "Then the implant takes over the control of the body. However, the implanted person is not a hybrid yet. Most fascinating thing happens after that - the implant changes the body of a carrier in such way that any offspring, regardless of the carrier's sex, will be born as a hybrid with traits of both species."

"Just so you all understand, most of the time the genestealers are malformed mutants with additional limbs or scales," Gallardi added acidly.

"Well, yes," Mordin nodded. "But still, esthetic values aside, just imagine - new species born from..."

"They are not 'new species', Professor, they are Tyranids who look like humans," Gallardi interrupted him. "There is nothing humane in them, they are slaves to the will of their Patriach and the Hive mind in general."

"Are they doing it to infiltrate human society?" Garrus asked the captain.

"Precisely. As I said, most of them are ugly mutants, but some of them actually have very subtle mutations, or at least mutations that can be easily concealed," Gallardi replied as the group marched through the spaceport. "They infiltrate different Imperial institutions and sabotage them from within. They spread discord and civil unrest. Rumor has it that once a hybrid even managed to be assigned as a planetary governor."

"Clever bastards," Zaeed noted. "Plunge the planet into chaos and soften it up for the upcoming invasion."

"Indeed," Gallardi noted and addressed Mordin. "That's what the genestealer hybrids are for, Professor. They are a clever weapon, nothing more."

"I see. Should have expected it to be a sensitive subject," the Salarian noted. "Apologies if caused distress, was simply fascinated by the concept," he became silent for a moment before adding. "Once again, grateful for the opportunity to study them. Was pleasantly surprised, expected the Tyranids to be similar to Rachni who just overwhelmed everything with great numbers."

"Well, the 'nids tried it once, during the Tyranic Wars, but they were repelled," Gallardi shrugged. "The Imperium paid a high price but we still managed to beat their first invasion. As you can see, they've adapted since then."

At the mentioning of Rachni and their similarity to these "Tyranids", Victoria sighed heavily.

"Something wrong, Commander?" Gallardi asked her.

"Yes, you two just had to remind me of the toughest decision I've made in my entire life," Victoria said ruefully.

"I'm not sure I understand," the man said, clearly confused by her response.

"Two years ago, Shepard set free the last remaining Rachni Queen," Garrus explained.

"Wait, the extranet says the Rachni are extinct, the Krogan made sure of that," Gallardi noted.

"I told you, captain, not everything on the extranet is an absolute fact. The news of the Rachni was deliberately hidden from public," Victoria told him. She then gave him a quick summary of what transpired on Noveria.

"So, even though you knew how dangerous the Rachni were and you even fought against them you still let the Queen go?" Gallardi asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, Commander, but why?"

"Do not think that I haven't considered killing her," Shepard replied and showed him her trigger finger. "This very finger was constantly hovering over a button that would have flooded the Queen's prison with acid. But in the end I just couldn't. The way the Queen talked to me... She was ready to accept any of my decisions because she somehow understood why we're afraid of her."

"Must also note that it was the first actual conversation with Rachni race," Mordin added to Victoria's surprise. "During the Rachni Wars all attempts at communications failed. Rachni just attacked us relentlessly, without reason. Actually supports Shepard's theory that Rachni were indoctrinated by Reapers."

"Or maybe the Queen knew her only chance at survival was to try and talk her way out," Gallardi contradicted.

"Maybe she did. Maybe you're right and I've doomed the future generations by setting her free but if there's even a small chance that she was telling the truth then I had to do it," Victoria sighed once again. "Trust me, there is not a single day that I don't pray before going to sleep, to whoever might be listening, that I didn't make a mistake back then."

"In that case, you will find the next encounter to be very interesting," Maeteris spoke up all of a sudden.

"What do you mean?" Victoria asked as she turned to look at the Farseer. She noticed that the Eldar woman was looking at someone ahead of the group. Shepard turned and saw a purple skinned Asari in a simple yet elegant dress slowly approach her.

"Commander Shepard, if I am not mistaken?" The Asari said in a rather tranquil manner.

"You have me at a disadvantage here, madam," Victoria said carefully. "Have we met before?"

"My name is Letra Mareni and no, you and I have not met before," the Asari replied. She carefully looked around before continuing. "However, I bear a message from someone who speaks very highly of you. A friend you have made on Noveria."

"I've met a lot of people on Noveria. Who exactly are you referring to?" Shepard asked. She already had an inkling whom Letra meant but hoped that she was just paranoid.

"I believe the message itself will explain everything," Letra replied with a smile.

With that, the Asari's eyes suddenly rolled up and she started speaking in a distant voice.

"Shepard! We hide. We burrow. We build. We sang of sorrow when your song abruptly ended. We sang of joy when your song began anew. We know that you seek those who foiled the songs of our mothers. Call us when the time is right. We shall answer the call and together our crescendo will burn the darkness clean."

Victoria looked around, partially expecting to see the Rachni Queen standing nearby. She didn't know the extent of the Queen's ability to control the bodies of others. Victoria stepped forward and shook the entranced Asari.

"Stop it! You can't take control over people's minds like that!" Shepard said.

To her surprise, Letra's eyes simply rolled back to their normal position.

"Peace, Shepard," the Asari said with a smile. "The Rachni Queen does not control my thoughts, she merely placed a message in my mind."

Victoria released Letra and stepped away. "How is that possible?"

"A psychic imprint?" Shepard heard Gallardi ask behind her. Shepard turned around and saw that he was actually talking to Maeteris. She also noticed that Gallardi's lasgun was pointed at Letra.

"Indeed it is. Made by a psyker of considerable skill and strength no less," the Farseer replied as she studied the Asari.

Gallardi stiffened further and raised his lasgun a little. "The Tyranids also have psychic beasts..."

Maeteris actually placed her hand on the barrel of his gun and tried to lower it. "It is a bit too early for their invasion, do you not agree? Besides, if you are referring to the ones your people call Zoanthropes, know that they will not be an issue."

"What do you mean?" Gallardi asked her.

"I can explain later," the Farseer replied and looked at now completely confused Shepard. "For now, I believe you would want some explanations, Commander."

"I think I can guess - the Rachni Queen is a psyker as well, isn't she?" Victoria asked. "That would actually explain a lot of things. Like their way of communication."

"Allow me to guess - they communicate through telepathy, do they?" Maeteris asked.

"Yes, and she also managed to possess the body of a mortally wounded Asari commando and speak through her," Victoria replied.

"Did she? How interesting," Maeteris said and turned to address the Asari. "Tell me, Letra Mareni. There was a second message you were supposed to deliver, correct?"

"Indeed there was. The Queen never specified who was the receiver, only that she will travel with Shepard," Letra nodded. "But now I have no doubt that she was talking about you."

"Let us hear it then," Maeteris suggested.

Letra simply nodded and her eyes rolled up once again.

"Void singer, we heard your song and we share your sorrow over the loss of your kin. The world shall be forever bleak without them. Know that we share your loneliness as well and understand it, for we too were once alone. But this will pass. Your song is strong and in time it will shape the songs of many children. We hope that one day we shall meet each other and share the songs of peace, harmony and creation."

With that the message ended and Letra once again returned to her normal state. Maeteris stood silent for a moment before she spoke with a distant look on her face.

"The Queen, she does not know much about other species, does she?"

"She is very eager to learn but she is still very young, even by Rachni standards," the Asari replied.

"Yes, she should be a bit over two years old by now," Shepard added.

A brief ironic smile appeared on Eldar's face. "If that is the case then as a much older person I suppose I should forgive her ignorance of the fact that unlike her, I cannot spawn my own kin on my own."

Letra stared at her for a brief moment. "It is as I suspected then - you are not human, are you?"

"I am not, and I would prefer for this fact not to become a public knowledge," Maeteris replied. "For a time being, at least."

"Certainly," Letra nodded. "I keep the existence of one race in secret, I might as well keep another one."

"How and where did you find the Rachni, if you don't mind me asking," Victoria spoke up. "When I released the Queen, she promised to hide in a place where no one would find her."

"And she kept her promise. The system she chose hasn't been visited for a very long time, merely because there is nothing of interest there," the Asari replied. "I myself would not have flown there if not for unfortunate circumstances I found myself in."

"What happened?" Shepard queried.

"I worked as a courier, and I was delivering certain supplies to one of the distant outposts in Terminus systems. However, before I had reached my destination, my ship was ambushed by pirates. I had to try and shake them off and I chose my destination randomly. But the pirates followed me," Letra replied. "My ship was damaged and I was forced to land on a barren planet. I was badly wounded myself and when I already thought that this was the end, the Rachni appeared."

"The Queen saved me and healed my wounds. Her workers repaired my ship, it runs even better than before," the Asari said and then added with a fond smile. "They are amazing people, Shepard. The galaxy owes you a great debt for sparing them."

"What happened to the pirates?" Victoria asked.

"They were obliterated, as they should have been," Letra replied calmly. "The Queen said that she sensed their intentions and it forced her to attack. The Rachni are peaceful creatures but they do not tolerate when the strong harm the weak for sport or out of greed."

"I wish I had your certainty," Victoria muttered.

"You are concerned about the Rachni Wars, are you not? Do not let it trouble you, the Rachni Queen explained to me that the war was started against the will of her people and I believe her," Letra said. "They would have never been the first to start a war for it goes against their fundamental values. They value harmony above everything else. They also seem to be inspired engineers and builders. When I showed the Queen my memories of the spires of Thessia, she was very excited and said that she longs for a day when the Rachni will no longer need to hide in the ground and they could build spires and cities of their own. Trust me, Commander, the racni are creators, not destroyers."

"I suppose you're right," Shepard said with a nod. "You know, you didn't actually say where the Queen is right now."

Letra smiled. "I could not tell you even if I wanted to. The location is in my head but I can access it only at the specific time and place. The Queen does not want the information to fall into the wrong hands and I understand her reasoning. Even after all these years the galaxy is still not ready for the return of the Rachni."

Before Victoria could ask another question, she felt the temperature drop a little. Letra's face became blank for a moment before returning to normal state. The Asari rubbed her eyebrow in confusion but then shook her head dismissively.

"Are you alright?" Victoria asked her.

"Sorry, I was lost in thoughts for a moment," Letra replied. "Do you have any other questions, Spectre?"

Instinctively, Victoria looked at Maeteris and noticed as the Eldar shook her head dismissively.

"No, that was all, actually," Shepard said as turned back towards Letra. "Thank you for delivering the message to us."

"It was my pleasure," the Asari said with a slight bow. "Good fortune to all of you. May the Goddess guide you on your path."

The group watched Letra depart and as soon as she disappeared from sight, they all turned to look at Maeteris.

"You did something there, didn't you?" Gallardi, Victoria and Jack asked simultaneously.

"That I did. I wanted to know how well hidden the location of the Queen was," the Farseer nodded. "An elaborate trick, the memory is indeed triggered only when the Asari finds herself at a certain location of space. Nothing I could not bypass, of course."

"So, you know where the Rachni Queen is, right?" Victoria asked.

"That, I do," the Eldar replied.

"Well, that's good, I suppose," Shepard said uncertainly. "What about the rest of it? Was she telling the truth about the Rachni?"

"She was and I did not detect any signs of mental scarring. We can safely assume that the Queen did not twist the Asari's mind in any way and that the she is indeed a benevolent creature," Maeteris replied. "All things considered, I believe that your faith in the Rachni was not misplaced. They could become powerful allies of our cause."

Victoria let out a huge sigh. "Well, allies or not, I'm content to know that they wouldn't be our enemies."

She then heard Gallardi mutter something to himself and turned to him. "What was that, Gallardi?"

"I said I'm still going to write a book on anti-Tyranid warfare. Just in case," the man said dourly.

"Who knows, someday someone might actually need it," Maeteris noted plainly. "However, we have dallied here long enough. We can proceed, Shepard. Your friend expects us."

"Right, let's go," Victoria said and the group marched onward.

When they reached Liara's office, most of the group stayed outside while Victoria, Tali and Garrus went to see Liara.

"Shepard, I am glad that you're here," the Asari stood up once she saw the trio enter her office she turned to address Tali first. "It's good to see you too, Tali. I am so sorry I was not able to congratulate you personally on the completion of your Pilgrimage."

"It's quite alright, Liara," Tali waved away the apology. "I'm happy to see that you're well."

"Thank you," Liara then turned to Garrus. "Garrus, what happened to your face?"

"You know, I was getting tired of all the attention I got from the ladies and decided to do a little makeover," the Turian said with a smirk.

"Garrus," Liara said with a voice full of concern.

"Just a few scratches, Liara, nothing to worry about," Garrus said with a wave of hand. "It's good to see you."

"Thank you, I am glad as well," Liara said with a nod and turned back to Victoria. "I trust you got here without any complications?"

Victoria looked around before replying. "Can we talk?"

"Yes, I have disabled the bugs here for a while. It will take time for them to recalibrate themselves," Liara replied.

"You have bugs in your own office?" Tali asked as she looked around.

"This is Illium. Almost every place has at least some kind of surveillance," Liara replied. "I no longer bother trying to remove them all. I just create temporary interferences when I want to discuss private matters. It would be best not to waste any more time on this."

"Fair enough. Want to guess whose messenger we met a short time ago?" Shepard asked.

Liara shrugged in confusion.

"From the Rachni Queen," Shepard said and allowed the information to sink in.

"The Rachni?" Liara whispered. "Are they here, on Illium?"

"No, the messenger was an Asari," Victoria replied and then quickly retold Liara the dialogue she had with Letra.

Liara sighed with relief. "Although I always believed that you have made the right choice on Noveria, it is good to have some confirmation of it."

"You can say that again," Shepard said with a chuckle. "So, Liara, are you going to tell us what happened on Illium overnight?"

"Of course. However, I must start with some questions first," Liara replied. "Are the rumors true? Do you really have a member new alien species among your crew?"

"The rumors about Horizon already hit the Extranet, didn't they?" Victoria guessed. "Or do you have other sources?"

"A little of both, although the Extranet is mostly filled with speculations and conspiracy theories about the issue," Liara replied. "But it is true then. What… What are they like? Where did they come from?"

Shepard smiled as she recognized the old Liara - a bubbly and awkward archeologist, not a much more serious and even slightly ruthless information broker. Victoria went towards the balcony and waived for Liara to follow.

"Over there, see the tall woman in black and white robe?" Shepard asked as the exited the office. "The one who's talking to a tall human in black armor?"

"That's her?" Liara asked as she leaned closer to study Maeteris. "But, she looks like a human..."

"That's because of the hood," Victoria replied. "She actually has long pointy ears."

"Really?" Liara queried.

As if to answer her question, Maeteris turned her head to face them and nodded curtly.

"This is where you politely nod back because she is fifteen times your senior," Garrus whispered to Liara.

Liara gasped in surprise and at first looked at Garrus to see if he was joking. But seeing that his face was completely serious, Liara quickly reined in her surprise and nodded back to the Farseer. Then, Maeteris simply returned to whatever conversation she had with Gallardi before.

"It is best that we return inside," Liara whispered, clearly hinting that it was not safe to speak on the balcony.

As soon as they were inside, Liara whirled around and asked excitedly. "Fifteen centuries? Wha... How long is their lifespan? And what are they called?"

"Her name is Maeteris and her people call themselves the Eldar," Victoria replied. "As far as we know, the average lifespan of an Eldar is similar to that of the Asari - one thousand years. However, powerful psykers like Maeteris could live much longer."

"Psykers?" Liara asked, clearly confused by the term.

"I'm not the best person to explain the term, but as far as we understand they are individuals who possess powerful psychic abilities," Shepard explained. "Compared to what Maeteris could do, most of the biotics are just parlor tricks."

"I see. The rumors from Horizon stated that she could create lightning and her scream shattered the windows in the entire district," Liara said. "Was that true?"

"Every word of it and it barely covers the extent of her abilities," Garrus replied. "We arrived at Horizon just in time to repel the attack only because she predicted the attack."

For a few moments Liara simply sat with her mouth open. "But that's... Where did she come from? How come we have never heard about them?"

"That's the best thing," Victoria said and smiled. "She came from another dimension."

At first, Liara just looked at her incredulously, but then her expression changed. "If you were someone else, Shepard, I would have been certain that you were making fun of me. But, another dimension? How is that even possible?"

"The way I was explained, they were sent here against their will because they angered a powerful daemon," Tali said. "And I'm not using a metaphor here."

"I suppose that at this point it was foolish of me to expect a scientifically plausible explanation, was it not?" Liara rubbed her eyebrow. "What is she like? As a person?"

"Probably everything you can expect from an ancient alien - regal, aloof, impossibly wise. Condescending, of course. Sometimes cold and downright arrogant."

"Arrogant?" Liara asked as if the idea somehow disappointed her.

"Yes, but it's hard to judge her, actually," Victoria replied. "The Eldar civilization is sixty million years old."

"Sixty..." Liara whispered in awe. "Older then the Protheans. Or the Inusanon. Maybe even older than the Rea..."

"No. Not older than the Reapers," Shepard shook her head.

"How do you know that?" Liara asked.

"Because it turns out that the Eldar once existed in our dimension, a very long time ago," Victoria replied. She then shortly retold Liara the story of the Eldar's extinction.

"What a terrible loss," Liara said after a moment of silence. "I cannot imagine how she feels right now, being the last of her kind."

"She was very distraught at first, obviously," Shepard said simply. "But now she is actually rather determined to see Reapers fall. Said that the Reapers shall rue the day they've chosen to make the Eldar their enemy. "

"Fascinating. There are so many things I would have loved to ask her about..." Liara said with a heavy sigh.

"I can introduce you, if you want," Victoria offered matter-of-factly.

For a moment Liara looked as if she was about to accept the offer but she held back. "Perhaps some other time, there are more important matters we have to deal with... Wait. Tali, you said 'they' were sent here against their will, correct?"

"Yes. The man in black armor, the one Farseer Maeteris was talking to," Tali replied. "He is also from another dimension."

"Is he also an Eldar?" Liara asked.

"No, he is human," Victoria replied. "His name is August Gallardi, he is a captain of the Imperial Guard."

"The Imperium of Man's most vaunted Imperial Guard," Garrus corrected with a chuckle.

"Oh, right. You see, back in that dimension, Humanity is a dominant race," Shepard said. "They have an empire that probably dwarfs the Systems Alliance several times over."

"Humans exist in another dimension?" Liara asked curiously. "What about..."

"The rest of us?" Garrus guessed her question. "No. For some reason we do not exist there. Both Gallardi and the Farseer were unfamiliar with our species when they got here."

"I see," Liara nodded. "These 'other' humans, they very advanced, are they not?"

"Actually, it varies. They lack in some areas, while they are clearly superior in other," Shepard replied. "They don't have the mass effect technology at all but they have spaceships size of cities and almost every soldier is armed with a handheld laser weapon."

"Fascinating. However, this actually brings us to the reason Illium is more dangerous for you right now," Liara said.

"What do you mean, Liara?" Victoria asked.

"It seems that some people managed to record your fight with the Eclipse and the recording was leaked on the Extranet," the Asari replied. "Since it featured a man who was clearly using a personal laser weapon, it attracted a lot of attention."

"Overnight I received requests for information about this man from almost every weapon manufacturing company in the known galaxy, as I am sure every other information broker had," Liara continued. "By the morning, things escalated. Right now, there are several bounties offered for the retrieval of captain Gallardi's equipment. There is also a substantial bonus for capturing Captain Gallardi alive. The bounties were posted by seemingly random people but everyone who deals with weapons knows that these people are just intermediaries the corporations use for this kind of business."

"Great. Fucking fantastic, actually," Victoria said sarcastically and then sighed heavily. "I guess we should have expected this."

"Do you think we should send Gallardi back to the Normandy?" Garrus asked her.

"Maybe," Shepard replied. Then she added. "On the other hand, I think that he will be safer here with us and you know why."

Garrus looked thoughtful for a moment before he realized what Victoria meant. "Maeteris. She knew about this and this is why she came along."

"Exactly," Shepard said with a nod.

"How could she know about… Right, if she was able to predict the attack on Horizon then she probably predicted this," Liara said. "But why she didn't tell you outright?"

"It's a bit complicated but trust me, her reasons are sound," Victoria replied. "I'll tell you someday about it."

"Fair enough," Liara said with a nod.

"Right, I guess it's best that we go to talk with Maeteris and see what she has to suggest," Shepard continued. "Thanks for the warning, Liara. Is there anything else we should know about it?"

"There is one more thing. I received requests for information about the unusual weapon from every major weapon manufacturer except one," Liara paused before continuing. "The Systems Alliance military."

"And for good reason because they already know about it. I've sent them schematics some time ago," Victoria replied. "With luck, they'll figure out how to reproduce them."

"I see," Liara said, obviously disappointed by Shepard's response. "What about… What about the rest of us?"

Victoria sighed. "It's complicated, Liara. You see, I gave the schematics to Systems Alliance with Gallardi permission. And one day, I am going to try the same for the rest of the races. But there is something you should know about captain Gallardi and the Imperium of Man. They hate aliens. Like, really hate them. Terra Firma is a bunch of angsty kids compared to the Imperium."

"But… Why?" Liara asked.

"From what we already know, you could say that humans weren't lucky with their neighbors," Garrus replied.

"That's just putting it mildly," Victoria added. "Liara, they do not have races that are willing to live in peace and cooperation and treat humans as equals. From what Gallardi has told us, they sometimes have temporary alliances with the Eldar but even then they are basically in a state of constant war with each other. The rest of the aliens are terrible monsters from a nightmare. They have Orks who are like Krogan but they reproduce by spores. They also have their own version of Reapers. Two versions actually. Personally, I'm beginning to understand their hatred for aliens. They fought with them for countless millennia and they no longer believe in something called 'friendly alien'."

"I… I understand what you mean," Liara nodded. "But surely he can see that things are different here? That we are not enemies of humanity?"

"He does, trust me, Gallardi is making progress, but it will take time," Victoria replied.

"What if it will take years?" Liara asked. "It will be too late for us because the Reapers will probably arrive by that time. The fates of entire species depend on a single person's viewpoint..."

"No it's not. If things will not work out with Gallardi, the other races will just have to deal directly with Systems Alliance," Shepard replied. "But I will not betray Gallardi's trust. Despite everything, I know that he is a good man, an honorable man. He dedicated his life to the protection of humanity, he served on the frontlines ever since he turned sixteen and I'm certain that he will gladly die if duty demands it. That is something I will always respect."

Liara sighed heavily. "I understand and respect your position, Shepard. Thank you for telling me this. I thought that... Well, it does not matter anymore."

"What does not matter?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Nothing, really," Liara replied, obviously uncomfortable.

"Liara," Shepard persisted.

"It's just... I wondered if your reasons for not sharing the technology had something to do with... Well, us and what happened yesterday."

It was Shepard's turn to pause this time, because it actually hurt to know that her former lover thought she could be so petty. "Really, Liara? I thought we knew each other."

"We do and I am truly sorry that I even considered this," Liara replied, her voice filled with sincerity. "But I was not aware of the whole situation with captain Gallardi and I simply could not find any other reason to explain why you did what you did."

Victoria wanted to retort but held her tongue. Liara was right, she had no way of knowing about Gallardi and frankly speaking, if it wasn't for him, Shepard would have shared the weapons' specs with every other race (except for Batarians maybe) because she knew that in order to defeat the Reapers, the Galaxy needed every possible advantage.

"Fair enough, Liara," Shepard replied simply.

"Please, Shepard. I am truly sorry for thinking about you in such manner." Liara continued to apologize.

"No, I get it. It was just a little unexpected," Shepard said. "It would have been less surprising if you thought that I didn't share the specs because of my involvement with Cerberus."

Liara looked uncomfortable when Victoria mentioned Cerberus. "Let us just forget about the whole thing."

"Fine by me," Victoria replied. "We better get going. Do you have any updates about Samara and Thane?"

"Not really, Seryna Veriann is still the person to ask if you want Krios' whereabouts," Liara replied. "As for Justicar, just ask the Illium Law Enforcement officers, they will have complete records of her movements."

"They keep her under constant surveillance?" Victoria asked curiously.

"Yes, they are afraid she might cause a diplomatic incident," Liara replied.

"Huh, this should be interesting," Shepard said. "Alright, once again, thanks for the warning, Liara."

"I'm glad to help," Liara said with a smile.

"There is also one small matter left," Victoria said and approached Liara. She took a small piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Liara.

It contained a simple note: _"Beware of Spectre Tela Vasir. She works for SB."_

Liara read the note quickly and as soon as she finished, she destroyed the note with a small warp field.

"How?" Liara asked as she looked at Victoria.

"Maeteris," Shepard replied simply.

"I see," the maiden nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Victoria said. "Well, see you around, Liara."

"Stay safe, Shepard," Liara returned.

Once Garrus and Tali said their farewells, the trio left the office to rejoin their group.

"Well, Gallardi, it seems that you and I have one more thing in common," Victoria declared as they approached the group.

"We do?" the man asked.

"We both have an enormous bounty posted on our heads," Shepard replied and quickly filled him in about the latest developments.

Gallardi's nostrils flared with anger and he looked at the crowds of people around them. "Well, this actually explains the audience."

"What audience?" Shepard asked as she looked into the crowds and then she noticed it herself - there were people in the crowd who tried to look as random passersby except for the fact that Victoria already saw several of them today when they walked through the spaceport.

"While you were busy, we started a competition on who spots the largest amount of spies," Kasumi cheerfully explained.

"And Farseer Maeteris won, for obvious reasons but that's not the point," Miranda added. "Shepard, we have everyone. Starting from lowliest merc observers to almost every intelligence service in the Galaxy. STG, Turian Blackwatch, SAI, Shadow Broker's agents. Even those two Hanar are spies for Illuminated Primacy.

"The Hanar have spies?" Tali asked.

"Of course. Who would suspect them?" Miranda replied. "We also saw two young Quarians, obviously on Pilgrimage. They probably think that captain's equipment will make an excellent Pilgrimage gift."

"Keelah," Tali gasped. "Where are they? I should tell them not to try anything stupid."

"They left some time ago," Miranda replied and once again addressed Shepard. "I think it is best that Gallardi returns to the Normandy."

"Like hell I will!" Gallardi retorted.

"Relax, Gallardi, we already considered it and came to a conclusion that you'll probably be safer here with us," Victoria said and looked at Maeteris. "This is why you came along, isn't it?"

"No. As a matter of fact, it is not," the Farseer replied to Victoria's great surprise.

"Seriously?" Shepard rubbed the back of her neck. "You mean that even though there is a huge bounty on Gallardi's stuff, no one is going to try anything?"

"I never said that," Maeteris replied casually. "I simply meant that captain Gallardi does not need my protection."

"You can bet your..." Gallardi muttered but then paused for a moment before continuing. "You can bet that I don't need protection."

"So let me get this straight - mercs are going to attack, but you will not be present," Shepard tried to summarize her guesses. "Which means that our forces will be split up and you and Gallardi will be on different teams. Am I right?"

"Perhaps," Maeteris replied "The decision is yours to make, not mine."

"Ugh, how I wish you could just give a straight answer," Shepard groaned.

"Welcome to my world," Gallardi said with a shrug.

Victoria sighed. "Fine, we split up. Garrus, you're going to lead the second team."

"Me?" the Turian asked.

"I need someone who can represent me. Besides Liara, you're my best known associate. If people weren't living under a rock for last two years, they will know that you can speak on my behalf. You're going to get Thane, he is an assassin which is another term for merc. This means that recruiting him should only be a matter of payment," Victoria said and looked at Maeteris. "Right?"

"The recruitment will not be an issue," Maeteris nodded.

"Good," Victoria said. "Farseer you're coming with Garrus..."

"Might I also suggest that Jack comes as well," Maeteris suggested. "She might learn something."

"Alright," Shepard nodded. "Just promise me that you two will not level this city by the end of the day."

"It was never my intention," Maeteris replied.

"You're no fun," Jack added.

"Good. Jacob, Kasumi you're coming with them," Shepard said. She knew that the Garrus' team was already beyond powerful, but she added the last two just in case something unthinkable happens to Maeteris.

Since the Farseer didn't object about her choice, Victoria turned to Garrus and activated her omni-tool. "Here are the details about your contact - Seryna."

Garrus quickly memorized the address. "Got it. I won't let you down, Shepard."

"I know," Victoria nodded. "Good luck, Garrus."

"Something tells you might need it more," Garrus replied. "Call me if things get ugly."

"The same goes to you," Victoria noted.

Garrus nodded and turned to his team. "Alright people, let's go find that assassin."

As Shepard watched Garrus' team depart, she felt both Gallardi and Miranda approach her.

"Not to imply anything, Shepard but are you sure it was wise to split up our forces like that," Miranda asked.

"I reached an agreement with Maeteris: she will only warn me if something really bad is going to happen, like Horizon," Victoria replied. "Since she didn't object about my choice, I can assume that nobody important is going to die today and that we should be able, no, must be able to handle whatever opposition we might encounter today. Because if we don't then what's the point of trying to assault the Collectors' homeworld?"

"Makes sense," Miranda said. "Besides, we already have the advantage of knowing that something is going to happen."

"That we do," Gallardi agreed. "Has anyone wondered if it's a natural thing, or the Eldar actually teach their children how to be cryptic as hell?"

The group laughed briefly at his question.

"Right, let's not waste time, we have a Justicar to recruit," Shepard said and turned to Miranda. "Miranda, do you know where the closest police station is?"

"Not far less than two blocks from here," the woman replied.

"Ok, people, let's move out," Victoria ordered.

As the group marched on, Shepard matched her pace with Gallardi.

"Captain, I saw that you were discussing something with Maeteris," Victoria noted. "What was it, if that is not a big secret."

"Oh, nothing, really," the man replied. "We were just talking about Zoanthropes. They are a type of Tyranids notorious for their psychic powers."

"The ones she said you shouldn't concern yourself with?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. Turns out, initially the Tyranids didn't have any Zoanthropes. They appeared only when Tyranids attacking the Eldar Craftworlds and the few planets where eldar lived," Gallardi replied. "Zoanthropes started to appear when the 'nids consumed a great amount of Eldar biomass."

"You mean they just, what, ate them?" Victoria asked him and gasped when Gallardi nodded. "What a horrible fate."

"Yes, it is. That's the worst thing about fighting the Tyranids - if you fall, your body will be added to the Hive Fleet's biomass," Gallardi continued. "In any case, that's the reason why we wouldn't see any Zoanthropes - we only have one Eldar."

"You think that Tyranids also exist in this dimension?" Victoria asked him.

"Emperor alone knows that, but the Eldar once were here and, well, we humans are also here," Gallardi shrugged. "If we are to assume the worst, one day the Tyranids will invade this Galaxy."

"Do you know when?" Miranda asked.

"Year 745 of the 41st millennium, the Invasion of Tyran," the man replied. "That's how they got their name."

"So we still have some time," Zaeed said. "That's goddamn fine, if you ask me."

"Yes, it actually is," Gallardi agreed.

Pretty soon they reached the police station and Victoria approached the reception officer.

"Excuse me, officer," Victoria addressed the Asari.

"Yes, how can I..." the Asari looked up from her desk lazily. It took her several moments to recognize Victoria. "Sorry, Spectre. Officer Dara Sarsi, how can I assist you?"

"I'm looking for Justicar Samara," Victoria replied. "I was told that you keep records of her movements."

"Goddess, please don't tell me she killed someone important," he officer gasped.

"Um, not that I'm aware of," Victoria rubbed her neck. "Why do you ask? Is she prone to killing? I was under the impression that they were law keepers."

"I probably gave you a wrong impression. Yes, the Order of Justicars is indeed an order of the keepers and protectors of the Asari law," Dara explained. "And that's the problem - the key words are 'Asari law'. As you know, Illium is not part of Asari space, our laws are different."

"But Justicar Samara is not aware of that?" Shepard asked.

"I am certain the Justicar is fully aware of that, but it changes nothing," the officer shook her head. "The Justicars are an ancient and deeply respected part of Asari culture and they follow a strict set of rules and dogmas called the Code. It was written long before the Asari invented space travel and discovered new races."

"And it hasn't changed since then?" Shepard asked.

"No, it is like a religion. The Asari accept and respect the way of the Justicars. The Code is harsh but it is just," Dara replied. "Also, the Justicars almost never leave Asari space but when they do, it is a disaster waiting to happen. If she sees a crime committed, even by an alien, the Code compels the Justicar to act. The Justicars also act as prosecutors, judges and executors at the same time. Imagine the diplomatic nightmare that will happen if a Justicar executes some important alien just because he was foolish enough to try and stop her from delivering justice."

"I can guess," Shepard shrugged. "Who controls them?"

"Who controls the Justicars?" The Asari asked. "No one, the Code governs them."

"Your people are not afraid that it might lead to the abuse of power?" Shepard queried.

"No. The induction into the Order of Justicars is brutal, only the most dedicated actually survive it," the officer replied. "No one becomes a Justicar for personal gain. And they would die before they break the Code."

"I see. Thanks for information, it was very helpful," Victoria said. "Now, about Justicar Samara's location."

"Right, right. Sorry, I got carried away. Despite everything, we are all excited to see a Justicar here. Young Asari grow up on legends about them," Dara sat down and started typing on her terminal. "Now, last time she was seen at the commercial spaceport. If you take an aircar, you should be able to catch up with her."

"Sounds like a plan," Shepard nodded. "Thanks for the information, officer."

"One more thing Spectre, if you are not here because the honorable Justicar caused a diplomatic incident then why are you looking for here?"

"Let's just say I want to ask for her help with some Spectre business," Victoria replied.

"If your cause is just, you will have no trouble securing her cooperation," the Asari said.

"Oh, it is just," Shepard said with a chuckle. "Ok, once again thanks for the info."

"Glad to be of service, Spectre," the officer nodded.

Victoria returned to her group. "Well, that was certainly illuminating."

"Yes, unexpected even," Gallardi noted.

"I know! I mean, you usually expect the Asari to be very liberal people," Shepard said. "And then you find out they have something so uncompromising like Justicars."

"Yes, of course but that wasn't what I was referring to," Gallardi shook his head. "When the Asari was describing the Justicars, I couldn't shake a feeling that she was talking about one of the Imperium's Adeptus."

"Which one?" Victoria asked curiously as the group marched towards the parking lot.

"The Adeptus Arbites," the man replied. "They are what you might call a police force of the Imperium."

"I take it they are as strict as the Justicars?" Shepard asked.

"Very much so. Like the Justicars, many of the Arbites are prosecutors, judges and executors at the same time," Gallardi replied. "And like the Justicars, they are largely independent from the rest of the Imperial organization because their leader - Grand Provost Marshal, is also a High Lord of Terra."

"And just like with Justicars, the abuse of power is not an issue, right?" Victoria asked.

"No. The Arbites are selected from war orphans, just like storm troopers, and they grow up in the atmosphere of total reverence of the Law of the Imperium," the captain explained. "It's like a second religion to them. They ruthlessly enforce the law but they never place themselves above the law."

The group reached the parking lot and used one of the small taxi airbuses to reach their destination.

"And just like these Justicars, the Arbites would rather die than betray the Law," Gallardi finished as soon as their airbus took off. Shepard noticed a sad note in his voice.

"Everything alright, Gallardi?" Victoria asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes," Gallardi nodded. "It's just that all this talk about Arbites reminded me of a good friend I lost a very short time ago. She was an Arbiter herself."

"Sorry to hear that," Shepard said. "What was her name?"

"Senior Enforcer Jocasta Angelidis, she was part of Inquisitors' team," the man replied. "She was killed when we battled the daemon's minions."

Gallardi was silent for a moment and then added with a slight chuckle. "You know, if not for that accursed mutant, she might have ended up here as well. I wonder what she would have thought about all this."

Very soon their taxi reached their destination and the group disembarked. The first thing Shepard saw was Volus with two Turian bodyguards walking towards the landing pad, followed quickly by an angry looking Asari police officer.

"Where do you think you are going?" the Asari asked.

The Volus turned slowly and addressed the Asari. "*hiss* I'm moving my goods to Omega, detective T'Nek *hiss*. With the arrival of your Justicar *hiss* I no longer feel safe here."

"Your business associate was killed and I am not ruling you out as a suspect unless your alibi is confirmed," the Asari detective said. "You will remain here until then."

"*Hiss* But the Justicar! They say she might go crazy and start killing everyone, *hiss*," the Volus protested.

"She only kills unjust, so if you really had nothing to do with your partner's murder, you should not worry," Anaya replied. "You will find me at the station if you need anything."

With that, the detective turned around and returned to her station. The Volus mingled uncertainly for a moment before sighing a moved towards a stack of crates that were probably his goods.

"Looks like that detective might know something about the Justicar," Miranda noted.

"Yeah, let's go ask her," Shepard said and went to the police station. Inside the station, the other police officers pointed Victoria towards the detective Anaya T'Nek's desk.

"Detective?" Shepard addressed the Asari who was sitting behind her desk with her head cradled in her hands.

"Nice guns," Anaya responded as she looked up. "Is there any way I can convince you not to use them in my district?"

"That largely depends on whether there are any Eclipse mercs around your district," Victoria replied with a smirk.

"There might be a few," the detective said.

"In that case there is likely to be some shooting. Sorry," Shepard apologized lightly.

Anaya sighed. "Great. First a Justicar, now a Spectre. And here I thought this was going to be a boring day."

"You don't seem to be as excited as the rest of the Asari about the arrival of the Justicar," Victoria noted.

"Oh, I am as excited as the next Maiden," the detective replied with a snort. "Except for the fact that my superiors just ordered me to detain the Justicar."

"Detain? From what I've heard, the Justicar is likely to kill you for obstruction of justice," Victoria said.

"How ironic. Even the humans are aware of that," Anaya sighed. "My bosses probably forgot about that part because they are too afraid that she might cause some diplomatic scandal."

At first, Victoria wanted to tell the Asari that she had a right to disobey a suicidal order, but she held back because Victoria knew that it would sound mighty ironic coming from her.

"However, it seems that you, Spectre, might offer me a way out," Anaya continued. "Dara… I mean officer Sarsi, informed me that you are looking for the Justicar and that you want to ask for her help."

"That's correct," Shepard nodded.

"Justicars are drawn to noble and impossible causes," the detective said. "If you manage to convince her to help you, it will considerably lengthen my lifespan."

"Won't it conflict with your orders to detain Justicar Samara?" Victoria asked.

"Please, my bosses don't actually want her to be detained. They want her to either leave Illium or to be held somewhere where she could not harm aliens," Anaya replied. "If Justicar Samara leaves with you, everyone will be happy."

"That sounds like a plan," Shepard nodded. "Do you know where she went?"

"To one of Eclipse outposts. I will send you the details. Go right through the police line outside, I will tell my girls to let you through. Not that you actually need my permission but whatever," the Asari said as she started typing on her terminal. "I will also appreciate if you get the Justicar a quickly as possible. My superiors will demand a report soon."

"Sure thing," Victoria said with a nod. "Thank you for the help, detective."

Shepard's team left the station and went towards the two police officers guarding the police line.

"Be careful, Eclipse mercs were seen roaming the streets," one of the officers warned when Shepard crossed the line.

"Thanks for the heads up," Victoria said and addressed her team. "Safeties off, people but watch your aim. Eclipse territory or not, there still might be civvies around.

After a chorus of confirmations, the team started their careful advance towards the Eclipse outpost.

They encountered their first group of mercenaries close to the outpost. Victoria peeked around a corner of a building and saw several mercs, mostly humans and Salarians as well as several LOKI mechs, standing in a circle while an Asari lieutenant was shouting orders.

"Second team is to hold position here," the Asari shouted. "First team, follow me. The Justicar has already reached our outpost, we need to stop her."

"Well, there goes the chance of a peaceful resolution," Victoria sighed and addressed her team. "Alright, Gallardi, you take care of the Asari. The rest of you are to wait for my signal."

"Copy that, Shepard," the captain replied and took position behind the building's corner. Gallardi's weapon made him an excellent counter to the Asari because for protection they relied mostly on mobility and the strength of their biotic barriers. Thus they usually wore very light armor, which granted next to no protection against laser weaponry.

"On your mark, Shepard," Gallardi said as he lined up his rifle.

Victoria briefly glanced at the rest of the group to see if everyone was ready and then gave her order. "Fire."

Gallardi fired a short burst. The merc lieutenant didn't even have the time to get surprised before lasbolts hit her square in the chest and then she fell limp.

"Weapons free!" Victoria shouted and overloaded the nearest mech. The rest of the group quickly followed her order.

Left without their leader, the rest of the mercenaries tried to put up some resistance but were quickly dealt with. Victoria was about to tell her team to move forward when she heard a muffled cry and the sound of distant gunfire.

"Looks like the Justicar has already reached the Eclipse outpost," Victoria noted. "Let's move it, people! She might need assistance."

However, as soon as the group reached the end of the street, Victoria realized that it was the Eclipse who needed help. Her first clue was an awful shriek followed by an Asari merc slamming into a nearby wall. The impact's force was so great that Shepard didn't need to check if the Asari was dead.

"Those were my best troops," Victoria heard someone say in a terrified voice. She looked for a source of the voice and saw another Eclipse merc through the window on a second floor of the nearby building. One of the windows was shattered, probably broken by a previous Asari merc.

"Tell me what I need to know and I will be gone," a powerful but serene voice came from the same building the merc was in. The Asari mercenary backed away from the unseen speaker until her back was pressed against the window. It was obvious that the voice belonged to Samara.

"You think I will betray that... thing?" the Asari asked. "She will hurt me in ways that you cannot imagine!"

"The name of the ship. Your life hangs on the answer, lieutenant," the Justicar said, more sternly this time.

"You may kill me but one of us will take you down, Justicar," Eclipse lieutenant shouted defiantly and raised her weapon to fire.

However, before she managed to squeeze the trigger, the merc's body was surrounded by biotic energy. At first she was simply lifted up a little and then she was thrown through the window with great force, shattering the glass in the process. It was then Shepard and her team finally got their first glimpse of the Justicar as Samara appeared in the window she just broke.

Just like Gallardi and Maeteris, Samara looked like she belonged to a different age. She was wearing an ornate set of black and gold armor with finely crafted breastplate and paludrons, although Victoria was certain that it worked as a hardsuit as well. In the center of the Justicar's breastplate was an image of Asari face, most likely a face of Goddess Athame herself.

Samara looked down at the fallen merc lieutenant and then she used her biotics to gracefully glide down the ground floor. This seemingly harmless display of biotics told Victoria that Samara was a true master. Neither Shepard nor Miranda nor Jacob nor even Jack could match this Asari in terms of biotic skill. Jack could probably match Samara in terms of raw power but the Justicar had centuries of experience.

The Eclipse lieutenant saw the Justicar approaching and tried to crawl away but Samara reached her quickly and pinned the Asari to the ground by placing her foot against the merc's throat.

"What was the name of the ship you smuggled her out?" Samara repeated her question.

"Go screw yourself, pureblood," the merc spat hoarsely.

Samara was still for a moment and then spoke calmly. "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess."

And then, with a powerful twist of her leg, the Justicar snapped the merc's neck.

The Justicar looked the merc's body for a moment before she turned to face Victoria and her team.

"My name is Samara, I am a servant of the Justicar Code," the Asari said as she slowly but confidently approached Shepard. "My quarrel was with these Eclipse sisters but I see a group of well-armed people before me. Are you a friend or foe?"

"I'm Victoria Shepard of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel. I came here to ask for your help against the race of aliens known as Collectors, Justicar Samara," Victoria replied formally. "They're abducting entire human colonies in the Terminus Systems and I intend to stop them."

"I sense truth in your words and it humbles me," Samara said simply. "I would have gladly offered my help to your noble cause but unfortunately right now I am pursuing a very dangerous criminal that I cornered here, on this planet. However, the Eclipse mercenaries managed to smuggle her out before I reached her." Samara continued, "Now I must learn the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."

"I wish you would leave with the human, Justicar," Victoria heard detective Anaya's voice behind her and turned to face the Asari. "My superiors just ordered me to detain you immediately."

"You risk a great deal by following that order, detective," Samara said. "Fortunately for you, the Code obligates me to cooperate with you for one standard day. After that I have to return to my investigation."

"I will not be able to release you that soon," Anaya replied.

"You will not be able to stop me," Samara stated plainly.

"So correct me if I'm wrong -Samara, you're willing to submit to detention but only for a day, " Victoria concluded. "And after that you will fight your way out, right?"

"Yes, and a great deal of innocent will be harmed in the process," the Justicar replied. "I greatly wish to avoid such an outcome but the Code allows no deviations."

"Is there a way we can resolve this without violence?" Shepard asked. "What if we find the name of that ship you're looking for?"

"Your offer is greatly appreciated, Spectre," Samara replied. "If you learn the name of the ship then the Code will be satisfied and I will be free to leave this planet and join your cause."

"Do you have any leads?" Victoria asked.

"Look for the Volus, Pitne For. The Eclipse sisters are trying to kill him for some reason," Samara replied. "Question him, he might be aware of the location of the local Eclipse leader."

"Thanks," Victoria said with a nod.

"We should return to the police station, Justicar," Anaya noted politely.

Samara nodded and looked at Shepard. "For the sake of many, I wish you luck with your search, Shepard."

And with that the two Asari departed.

"So, Pitne For, was it?" Shepard asked rhetorically. "Let's see what he has to say."

"Interrogation shouldn't take much time if the Volus is aware of Shepard's reputation," Mordin noted matter-of-factly.

A short time later...

Mordin was right, Pitne For didn't resist much. He told them everything about his deal with the Eclipse while constantly trying to get as far away from Victoria as possible. He was even kind enough to pinpoint the location of the Eclipse local main base and gave Shepard his copy of their security key.

"Was it just me or the Volus was afraid of Shepard for some reason?" Gallardi asked as the group progressed towards the Eclipse base.

"When we're back on the Normandy, be sure to search the Extranet for the 'Shepard and the Volus' video," Miranda said. "That should give you all the answers."

"Great, someone actually recorded the whole thing?" Victoria asked and sighed.

"It's very popular," Miranda replied. "Two billion views in less than two weeks."

"The Vol Protectorate probably hates me right now," Victoria muttered.

The team encountered several Eclipse patrols when they reached docking ports that belonged to Eclipse. The fighting was sporadic but it was nothing Shepard and her team could not handle. As they cleared the first dock, the group proceeded to the next one through a set of empty administrative offices. Or so Victoria thought until Gallardi brought the group to a halt with a hand sign.

"What is it, captain?" Shepard asked quietly.

Gallardi tapped his thermal detector on his helmet and pointed towards one of the doors. Victoria realized that he detected someone hiding inside. _"We should really get ourselves similar detectors,"_ Victoria thought to herself.

She quietly signaled for both Zaeed and Gallardi to take positions near the door and unholstered her pistol. After receiving nods of readiness from both men, the three of them stormed the room behind the door.

No one fired upon them at first and Victoria looked at Gallardi for further directions. The man pointed towards one of the pieces of furniture.

"Come out slowly, we know you're here," Victoria ordered loudly.

"Please, don't shoot!" an Asari in Eclipse uniform slowly rose from her hiding place. "I am not with the Eclipse! I am not one of them!"

"You're wearing their uniform," Victoria noted plainly.

"Yes, I know but I am new!" the Asari pleaded. "I thought being Elnora the Mercenary would be cool but I never knew what they were really like. Please, I never hurt anyone, I..."

"That's a goddamn bullshit," Zaeed growled beside Victoria. "You really think we're that dense?"

"What? No, I am telling you the truth!" the merc protested.

"Zaeed?" Shepard asked, her tone urging him to elaborate.

"Shepard, you don't get Eclipse uniform unless you kill someone," Zaeed stated. "Such is their bloody rule."

"No, no!" the merc protested further. "It is just a myth!"

"I've been in this business for decades, Shepard," the old mercenary countered. "I know what I'm talking about."

"In that case, let the police deal with her," Victoria said. "On your knees, kid. Hands where I can see them and..."

Victoria wasn't able to finish her order because Elnora's face turned into a scowl and her hands reached behind her back.

"Screw you!" the Asari screamed as she ripped her SMG from its holster.

She never had a chance to use it as three guns opened up on her. The force of impact threw the merc's body against the nearest wall where it slumped to the ground leaving a trail of purple blood.

"Thanks for the tip, Zaeed," Victoria said as she holstered her pistol.

"Just doing my job," the merc replied simply.

"What a waste," Shepard said as she studied Elnora's body. "Hm, I wonder..."

"What is it, Shepard?" Miranda, who also entered the room behind them, asked.

"Well, detective Anaya said that Pitne For's associate was killed recently," Victoria replied as she crouched down and started looking for Elnora's omni-tool. "And Elnora here didn't lie about one thing - she is indeed new to the Eclipse. Her uniform was squeaky clean."

"You think she was the one who killed him?" Miranda asked.

"Maybe..." Victoria said as she activated the merc's omni-tool. It was code locked but was nothing Shepard could not hack. She then started to look for personal details and records.

"Elnora Faore, age 62," Victoria read out loud. She looked at the dead Asari's face. "Shouldn't you still be at school, kid?"

After a couple of minutes of searching Shepard found what she was looking for.

"_Well, it's official – little baby Elnora is a full-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous Volus_. _Up close, exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard's suit wide open! Hah! I can't wait to see some real action! Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous!"_

"Kids these days," Victoria said with a snort. "She probably would have posted this on her profile in some social network."

"Well, I'm sure the detective will be delighted to hear this," Miranda noted. "Now let's make sure the Justicar doesn't kill her."

"True, we better get moving," Victoria said as she took the omni-tool with her. "Stay sharp, we're coming up to a second docking port. It's probably filled with mercs just like the previous one."

They encountered two more Eclipse patrols in the second port and dispatched them with little difficulty, which started to worry Shepard.

"Is anyone else getting a feeling that something is odd?" Victoria asked as they advanced further. "We're close to an Eclipse base, a merc band notorious for their use of mechs, yet we haven't encountered any heavies so far."

"Likely have consolidated the heavy mechs inside their base," Mordin suggested.

"Or maybe they have something else," Tali spoke urgently as looked around the vast dock. "I hear jet engines, closing fast."

"Gunship! Get to cover!" Victoria shouted as she spotted the source of the sound.

Eclipse gunship flew into the dock at full speed and immediately opened fire on the team. Shepard quickly took cover behind one of the crates and switched to her missile launcher. She rose up immediately and loosed two missiles in quick succession.

Both projectiles reached their target but the gunship's barriers held. The Eclipse pilot nimbly turned her craft to face Victoria and opened fire with its autocannon, forcing Shepard to dive into cover once again. However, this allowed the rest of the team to target the gunship with small arms fire and biotics. It wasn't enough to breach the craft's barriers and it was too high up to use the overload pulse.

Gallardi of course didn't have to worry about the barriers. He was firing on the gunship's cockpit and every shot reached its mark. Oddly enough, Gallardi wasn't using high powered shots, there the thick glass of the gunship's canopy resisted lasbolts. On the other hand, Gallardi succeeded in attracting the pilot's attention and the gunship switched its target.

Not wasting her chance, Victoria left her cover and fired another missile at the gunship. The missile hit home and the explosion was followed by a sound of clattering, signifying that gunship's barriers have finally collapsed.

The Eclipse pilot realized that she was vulnerable and who was the main threat. The gunship whirled around to target Victoria and fired two missiles at the crate Shepard was using as cover. Victoria jumped away as far as she could but the shock wave still hit her hard. Her tech armor soaked in most of the punishment and collapsed. Shepard also lost grip on her missile launcher.

Victoria scrambled up and sent a warp blast at the looming gunship before taking cover behind a large container. She readied her assault rifle and looked from behind her cover to see what the gunship was doing. To her surprise, the Eclipse pilot probably decided to retreat because the gunship was currently flying towards the docking port's exit. The mercenary was probably hoping to allow her craft's shields to recharge before launching another attack. She would get that chance however because Shepard saw Gallardi quickly climb atop of large stack of containers. Once he reached the top, the captain switched to his plasma pistol and fired on the gunship.

The man calculated the craft's speed correctly, and despite a firing delay the shimmering plasma bolt had hit one of the gunship's stabilizers. The stabilizer was destroyed, sending the gunship into a wild spin. The pilot probably tried to compensate but she didn't have enough time. The craft collided with the docking port's wall. The force of the collision was so great that the gunship exploded immediately.

A satisfied smile appeared on Victoria's face and she looked back at Gallardi. The man was probably very proud of his achievement because he blew the smoke from the pistol's barrel and then he placed the gun back into its holster with a dramatic flurry.

"Yes, yes, Gallardi. You're amazing! Now get down here, we have work to do," Victoria shouted cheerfully as she went to pick up her missile launcher.

"You're just jealous, Shepard. Accept it," Gallardi shouted back with a grin.

"You do know that it would not have worked like that if I haven't stripped its barriers with my missile launcher?" Victoria asked him.

"Oh, fine. You can have some of the glory," Gallardi said as he started to climb down.

"Your generosity knows no bounds," Shepard joked and waited for him to get down. "Seriously though, thanks. Things were getting a little bit uncomfortable down here."

"Don't mention it," Gallardi said as he approached the group. "You know, I hope we'll never have to fly in one of those things. The design is very flimsy."

"The Mantis gunships rely more on their kinetic barriers and agility than on armor," Miranda noted.

"Give me an old, sturdy Valkyrie any day," Gallardi said with a nostalgic tone. "How far are we from the merc base?"

"Actually, we're here. They reside in this warehouse," Victoria said as she went towards a big sealed door. "Let's see if Pitne For's key is still working."

The key worked and the team carefully proceeded into the base. As they entered one of the corridors, they saw a Volus standing at the end of it. He was trying to get something from a vending machine but his movements were sluggish. The team slowly approached him, making just enough sound so they wouldn't startle him. The Volus turned around and started to approach them. However, instead of stopping, he simply bumped into Victoria. The small alien staggered a little but then he raised his short arms and, to Shepard's great surprise, a biotic field surrounded his body.

"I'm a biotic god! I think things – and they happen!" the Volus declared rather proudly. He then stumbled over to Gallardi and spoke again. "Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am the biotics made flesh."

Gallardi raised an eyebrow and looked at the rest of the group. "I… Shouldn't be concerned, right?"

"No, I don't think so," Victoria replied, struggling not to laugh. She then addressed the Volus. "Are you alright?"

"I am a great wind that will sweep all before me like a… like a…" the Volus paused, considering what to say next. "A great wind. A great biotic wind!" he finished dramatically.

"Symptoms typical of drug induced hallucinations," Mordin noted. "Likely from red sand."

"Oh, he's high then," Shepard said and addressed the Volus once again. "Are you part of Pitne For's crew?"

"Yes, when I was mortal I worked for Pitne For," the Volus replied. "But now I have a greater destiny… Leader of the mercs, Wasea. I shall crush her and take her life essence for myself!"

"You want to fight the Eclipse leader?" Victoria asked with a chuckle. "Seriously, you should rest."

"Are you mad? I'm unstoppable! Feasting on her biotic-rich blood will be the last step of my ascension to godhood!" the Volus argued. "I shall tear her apart!"

"Wasea will tear you apart," Shepard told him. "Go take a nap."

"Bah, you mortals will never understand," the alien said and stumbled towards the door that probably led to captain Wasea. "My destiny awaits me and when I'm done…"

He wasn't able to finish because Victoria approached him from behind and gently pushed him, causing him to stumble and fall on his belly.

The Volus slowly crawled back to his feet. "But… great wind! Biotic god! I'm… I…" He turned toward Shepard and swayed drunkenly on his feet. "What was I saying? I'm… tired." He started walking towards the other door. "You… may be right. Yes, I'm tired… I'll nap. Destroy the universe later…"

As he disappeared from sight, Gallardi once again looked at the group and asked. "Once again, I shouldn't be concerned about the whole 'destroy the universe later' thing, correct?"

"No. Why do you ask?" Miranda queried.

"I skipped the Volus as soon as I learned that they are mostly bankers and merchants," the man replied. "Now I'm just worried if I missed something important."

"Trust me, you didn't," Victoria assured. "But at least the Volus confirmed that Wasea is somewhere nearby. Let's get this over with."

They carefully entered the warehouse's main storage room and quickly dispersed to all available cover because it was obvious that Wasea was expecting them. On the far side of the room Victoria saw an improvised barricaded with several Eclipse mercenaries standing behind it. It was easy to spot Wasea among them – unlike her subordinates, she wasn't wearing the traditional colors of her group but it was obvious that she was in command.

"You know, everything started going to hell ever since we smuggled that filthy creature off world," captain Wasea shouted over the barricade. "First, a Justicar arrived. Then a supposedly dead Spectre. But then things started looking up when I found out who was among the Spectre's attack dogs. A human who is a literal gold mine."

It didn't take long for Victoria to realize that the Asari was referring to Gallardi. _"Is this the ambush Maeteris warned us about?"_ Victoria thought to herself. She looked out of her cover and briefly studied the barricade the Eclipse has built. _"Doesn't look very threatening."_

"I do not know who you are, human or where did you get those weapons, and I frankly I do not care," Wasea continued. "What I know is that a lot of people are willing cosmic sums of credits for those."

"You're welcome to try and take them, xenos," Gallardi shouted back, obviously unimpressed by her threats.

"Oh, I will," Wasea promised. "There is also a hefty bonus for taking you alive. But I am willing to forget about that. You killed a lot of my troops and I will enjoy crushing your head into a pulpy mass!"

With that, Wasea used her biotics to throw some kind of container at Gallardi's cover. However, the container never reached him because Miranda used her own biotics to intercept it and slammed it into the ground with great force. The container broke from the force of impact and a cloud of brown gas appeared in its place.

"Gases, gases! Seal up!" Gallardi shouted a warning.

Victoria sealed her helmet shouted over the com. "Return fire!"

The team began trading shots with the mercs on the barricade.

"Color of gas matches that of Minagen X3," Mordin reported. "Lots of containers around. Suggest using them as smoke screen."

"You heard the man, shoot the containers and use the cover to advance!" Victoria ordered.

They blew up several canisters and soon the room was partially obscured in brown hue. The team started to leapfrog forward from cover to cover. Eclipse mercs were firing blindly into the fog and some of them were using missile launchers.

"Grunt, Zaeed, flank them from right and smoke those heavies out!" Shepard ordered.

"Will do, Shepard!" the Krogan shouted jovially as he switched to his flamethrower.

"Alright, people let's get their attention," Victoria shouted and started laying down suppressing fire on the barricade.

Most of the mercs kept their heads low and those who didn't quickly fell to concentrated fire. And after a few moments, Shepard's team efforts paid off as gouts of flame appeared behind the barricade and the mercs' screams filled the air.

However, Wasea managed to find a way out. A large biotic projectile flew up and Victoria immediately recognized the biotic charge. After a second, the merc leader's figure appeared on the walkways above.

"What in the Emperor's name was that?" Gallardi asked as he looked at Wasea.

"She's a vanguard! Shoot her down!" Victoria ordered.

Gallardi fired a long burst and scored a couple of hits. But unlike her subordinates, Wasea was using a heavy armor and it managed to hold against the lasbolts, mainly because Gallardi once again wasn't using high-powered shots. Wasea grunted but then unleashed her biotics. Her higher position gave her an advantage because Gallardi now had no cover.

The man managed to dodge the first two attacks but the third one hit him square. Gallardi was sent flying backwards and collided with one of the crates.

"Gallardi!" Victoria shouted and dashed to his position. She grabbed him by the collar of his armor and dragged into a nearby cover. "Are you alive?"

He grunted and tried to stand up but Victoria held him. "Stay down, you might have broken something."

"Shepard, my weapon…" Gallardi spoke and Victoria realized that his lasgun wasn't with him. She looked up and saw it lying on the ground where Wasea's biotics hit the captain.

Then she saw as Wasea biotically charged down right next to the lasgun. Then the merc bent down to pick up the weapon. Victoria immediately raised her rifle to open fire but immediately realized that it wasn't needed.

With a thunderous roar, Grunt charged out of a nearby cloud of Minagen X3 and caught Wasea completely off guard. He collided with her, sending her body flying for several meters.

"Ha-ha! Burn!" Grunt shouted gleefully and hosed the Asari with his flamethrower.

The Asari shrieked as she was consumed by flames. She rolled around, desperately trying to douse the fire until a burst of fire from Zaeed ended her suffering.

"Clear!" Zaeed announced matter-of-factly.

"Confirmed. No more enemy contacts," Miranda added.

Victoria placed her rifle on her back and turned her attention back to Gallardi, who already managed to pick himself up and was moving to collect his lasgun.

"Will you stay still for a second?" Victoria asked him.

"I'm fine, just a little winded. That's all," the captain replied.

"I'm sure you are. Just like the last time when you didn't notice the wound on your thigh until Jacob pointed it out for you," Shepard said and called Mordin. "Professor, check Gallardi for internal injuries."

The Salarian approached them and used his omni-tool to perform the scan. "Many contusions and bruises but no bone largely superficial. Suggest lighter duty for a couple of days."

"See, nothing to worry about," Gallardi told Victoria. "Anyway, what was that thing Wasea did? Are all Asari are capable of flying around like that?"

"No, only a specific type of biotics can do that, we call them vanguards," Victoria replied. "And it's not restricted to Asari. I knew some humans who can do that."

"Cursed witchcraft," Gallardi muttered as he nursed his shoulder. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken," Victoria smiled. "Besides, 'witchcraft' sounds much cooler than 'biotics'."

The captain walked over to his gun and picked it up. "A second time this week. Maybe I should switch back to a hose," the man muttered.

"A hose?" Shepard asked him dubiously.

"A nickname for a variant of hotshot lasgun when instead of powerpacks the weapon is connected to a backpack generator by an umbilical cord," Gallardi explained. "We used them when we're deployed far behind enemy lines."

"It must've been a rather unwieldy weapon," Victoria speculated.

"It was. On the other hand you had 4000 shots at your disposal, give or take," the captain said with a shrug. "Hence the nickname - hose. Also, the cord was rather sturdy so you didn't have to worry about losing your gun."

"I see," Victoria nodded. She looked around the wrecked warehouse. "Well, let's look for any records about our smuggled criminal."

The group dispersed and started searching. It didn't take long to find Wasea's datapad that contained her reports to whoever was the current overall leader of the Eclipse.

"I found it!" Victoria shouted to the rest of the team. "I wonder what sort of criminal Samara pursues because Wasea was really spooked by him or her. The words she uses – 'thing', 'creature'. It's as if she's not talking about a person. More like a dangerous animal."

"Something that scared a powerful Asari biotic? Can't say that I'm eager to meet it," Miranda said as she approached Shepard. "Anyway, Shepard, I've found something you would find interesting," the woman said and offered Victoria another datapad.

"What do we have here? A shipping manifest?" Shepard asked as she took the datapad and studied its contents. "Well, would you look at this? It seems that Pitne For not only supplied the Eclipse with a shitload of Minagen X3 but also sold them 200 units of Red Sand."

Zaeed whistled as he heard about the amount. He also noticed that Gallardi looked rather confused and elaborated. "That's a lot of dangerous drugs, buddy."

"No wonder the Volus was so worried about Samara," Tali noted. "If she found out about this, she would have killed him."

"True that," Victoria agreed. "Right, we've got what we came for. Let's head back to the police station."

_A short time later..._

They entered the police station once again and Victoria noticed the difference to the atmosphere inside the building. Instead of lively banter and the rush of activity, the building was filled with whispers and reverent silence. It was as if the police officers were scared they might offend the Justicar with loud speaking.

Shepard approached the detective Anaya's desk. The Asari looked up and her expression immediately became hopeful. Samara was nearby, sitting in a lotus pose and meditating.

"I hope you have good news for the Justicar, Spectre," Anaya said.

"I do," Victoria said and approached Samara. "Justicar, your quarry left on AML Demeter. I have the Eclipse leader's report with me."

The Justicar gracefully stood up and gratefully took the datapad from Victoria's hands. After reading the datapad for a few seconds she nodded.

"Most impressive, Spectre. You fulfilled your end of the bargain and it will be my honor to fulfill mine," Samara said. She then turned to face Anaya and bowed slightly. "I'm ready to leave with Spectre Shepard, if that will satisfy your superiors, detective."

"You're free to go, Justicar. It has been an honor having you in my station," Anaya returned with equal respect.

Samara nodded and turned back to Victoria. "I must be sworn to your service, so that I am never forced to choose between your orders and the Code."

With that, her eyes suddenly started to shine with bright blue light and a corona of biotic power appeared around Samara's body. She lowered herself on one knee and started speaking.

"By the Code, I will serve you, Shepard. Your choices are my choices, your morals are my morals. Your wishes are my Code."

The Justicar's biotic power flared once and then it peacefully dissipated.

"I never thought I'd see a Justicar swear an oath like that," Anaya said as Samara slowly rose.

"I am honored by your trust, Justicar," Victoria said. "Welcome to our team."

"Thank you, Shepard," Samara said with a nod. "I must warn you, however. If you force me to do something extremely dishonorable, I will be forced to kill you when I am released from my oath."

"I don't think that's ever going to happen," Tali said cheerfully.

"Thanks, Tali," Victoria said.

The Justicar simply nodded. "I must confess, a life of a Justicar can be lonely sometimes. It would be a welcome change to travel in a company of honorable heroes."

"I hope we will not disappoint your expectations, Samara," Shepard said.

"Well, at least the Farseer will have finally someone to talk to," Gallardi pointed out.

"I know, right?" Shepard agreed. "Although, I will probably feel like an infant if both Maeteris and Samara will stand in one room."

Samara looked at them curiously. "If I understand correctly, you have another Asari matron among your team, correct?"

"In a sense, she is not an 'Asari matron' although I'm certain that Maeteris can be easily compared to many Asari Matriarchs," Shepard said with a smile.

Samara actually looked confused for a moment. "Is she a Krogan?"

Some of the group actually chuckled at the notion. "She is… Something else. When you meet her, everything will explain itself."

"How curious," Samara said simply. "Shall we depart then?"

"In a moment, I still have some business with detective Anaya," Shepard replied.

"How can I help you, Spectre?" Anaya asked.

"First, the murder of Pitne For's associate – he was killed by an Asari named Elnora Faore as part of her initiation into Eclipse mercenary band," Shepard said and procured Elnora's omni-tool. "Here is the evidence. We tried to arrest her but she resisted and was killed."

Anaya listened to the recording and scratched her forehead. "We'll this certainly helps but I am not sure if my superiors will accept this as a…"

"I vouch for Shepard and any evidence she provides," Samara said suddenly.

"Um, thank you," Victoria said.

Anaya nodded. "I accept the judgment of the Justicar. Well, since this Elnora is already dead, I can just write a report and close the case. Thanks, Spectre."

"Oh, I have more," Shepard said with a grin. "Here's Pitne For's shipment manifest. Just look at the contents and it will tell you everything."

The detective read the manifest and smiled slightly. "Well, well, well, Pitne For. Even though Red Sand is actually legal on Illium, I am willing to bet that he does not have a license for **that** much Red Sand."

She looked at Victoria. "Thanks Shepard, this really helps us."

"Glad I could help," Victoria replied.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have an arrest to arrange," Anaya said and activated her omni-tool. "Neira, this Anaya. Come in."

There was static on the other end.

"Neira, this is Anaya. Come in!" the detective has repeated more insistently this time. When no one replied, she tweaked her omni-tool and spoke again. "Larsea, this is detective Anaya. Report immediately."

Still no response.

"Are they fell asleep out there?" Anaya muttered and looked out of the window. Then she went to the corridor and asked loudly. "Anyone saw officers Neira and Larsea?"

"No, madam," several other officers replied.

Anaya cursed, went to her desk and took out her pistol from a drawer.

"Problems, detective?" Shepard asked her.

"I seriously hope this just some stupid joke," Anaya muttered. "Excuse me."

With that she strode out of her office. After a brief moment, Shepard looked at her team and nodded for them to follow.

The entire group along with Anaya and Samara exited the police station and Shepard immediately felt that something was off. The streets were empty.

"Stay frosty, people something is not…" Shepard managed to say before their ambushers finally appeared.

A dozen of well-equipped mercs without any affiliation appeared all around them. The team reacted quickly, and the whole thing immediately turned into a standoff as guns were pointed in every direction. That was when they finally discovered the missing officers.

Two mercs – a Turian and a Krogan, were using them as body shields and had their weapons pointed at Asari's heads.

"Let's keep it civil, okay?" the Turian, obviously a leader, spoke. "You have something we need and you probably know what it is. Now, hand it over and no one is going to die."

"Let them go, now!" Anaya said furiously as she pointed her weapon at the Turian.

"Sorry detective but the answer will be 'no'," the Turian replied sarcastically.

"If you even scratch my girls, you stupid bird, I swear by the Goddess, you will not leave Illium alive," the detective promised hotly.

"Sorry honey but the stakes are just too high and I'm willing to gamble," the merc said with a smirk. "The human among you has stuff on him that is worth a fortune. On that money I can buy a planet, cover it with palaces and hire you and all your Illium police as my housemaids."

He then turned to address Gallardi. "Come on, human, it's very simple – hand over your equipment and these pretty Maidens won't die."

"And what makes you think that I care, xenos?" Gallardi asked coldly as he kept his lasgun trained on the Turian.

Part of Victoria wanted to protest but a greater part of her actually agreed with Gallardi – giving away the weapons was not an option. She had no idea who these mercs were working for. If they surrendered Gallardi's guns in a few month every merc, pirate and slaver in the Galaxy would be armed with lasguns. As much as it pained for Victoria to admit it, the lives of two Asari were nothing compared to that.

This whole situation was about to get very ugly because Victoria simply couldn't think of any way to avert it.

* * *

><p><em>AN: One of my readers suggested that I should place the author notes at the end of the chapter. Sounds like a good idea._

_Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Sorry for a tremendous delay. Real life and all that, you know._

_Also, some of you might have noticed that I changed Samara's armor a little. While I like the original outfit, I wanted to give her something more practical but I also figured that the Justicars' armor should be partially ceremonial._

_One last thing: from now on I'm not going to give replies to guest reviews as a part of A/N. That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your comments but the A/N are getting very big because of my replies. Create an account, there are also numerous other ways of logging in on FanFiction like using Google, Twitter and Facebook._

_I will also sometimes give replies to guest reviews in my forum. Check my profile, there is a link to the forum there._

_Anyway, thanks for all the guest review for CH16, I really appreciate your support._

_That's it for now!_


	18. Illium Adventures Part 4

**Chapter 18: Illium adventures part 4**

**Location: Illium.**

"What makes you think I care?" August asked the Turian indifferently.

The stupid xeno actually looked uncertain for a moment before he spoke again. "You're good, human but you can't fool me. I've watched your actions carefully yesterday and I know that you do care, because if you didn't, you would've already taken your the shot."

It took August some time to realize what the Turian meant and when he did he almost burst out with laughter. The Asari clerk, he accidentally saved her yesterday in the process of executing Captain Enyala. Emperor help him, the moron thought that Gallardi was some kind of noble hero who saved xenos in distress all the time, svelte Asari damsels in particular.

Needless to say, the Turian was mistaken. He was not some novice conscript, August had taken his time and assessed the situation. A man who went in guns blazing with no thought to consequence died fast and was forgotten faster.

He had to give these mercs their due - the ambush was well executed. Their only mistake was that the mercenaries didn't kill him while they had the chance. They'd given up their element of surprise to negotiate with the man they presumed him to be.

August glanced at Shepard, catching the determined look on her face. The Alliance officer knew all too well this would end in bloodshed. He would be best to leave the burden of that violence in her hands, it was her right.

"Orders, Shepard?" Gallardi asked quietly.

"Actually, I'm open to suggestions," Victoria replied.

"We shoot them till they die?" August offered simply.

"That was my plan B. Obviously we're not giving them your stuff," Shepard whispered. "But I wondered if you had a plan where we actually try to save the hostages."

"I don't," Gallardi whispered back.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Victoria muttered.

"I'm getting tired of waiting," the merc shouted. The Asari hostage screamed as Turian digits tightened about Asari's throat. Beads of purple blood appeared where talons broke the delicate blue skin.

"You are a dead man, Turian," Anaya swore.

August gripped his lasgun tighter as he aimed it at the Turian's head. "_Come on, August, she's just a xeno,_" Gallardi thought to himself. He wasn't responsible for her capture. What xenos did to each other was none of his affair.

They weren't human.

August glanced at the ageless Asari face. The Asari could be any age, a centuries old matron looked the same as a teenage pup, but somehow Gallardi knew that she wasn't older than he.

"Help. Please," the Asari pleaded quietly as tears rolled down her blue flesh.

And suddenly he wasn't there anymore. He was years away, looking into the face of another crying girl he'd tried to save. S_he probably graduated from Schola only a couple of months ago. A foolish girl talked into service with offers of adventure, Gallardi was certain that she didn't expect her first boarding action to end up like this. _

_No one ever did. He remembered countless young faces, barely old enough to know a woman's warmth, glassy eyed and dying on some Emperor forsaken scrap of nowhere. The fools were always young, too young. _

_"Help. Please," the ensign pleaded._

_"Yess. Help. Pleasse," the abhorrent Eldar pirate mocked his hostage as he slowly backed away. His ugly blade was constantly pressed against the ensign's throat._

_"It's over, xeno. Give up," August said coldly, his lasgun constantly trained on the Eldar's head as he slowly crept up on the pirate. He could just see the evil cheshire grin of the xenos raider as he peeked around the sides of his human shield._

_Indeed, for the xenos it was already all over - the raid failed. They underestimated the resolve of the ship's defenders and now the Spirit of Tanith was littered with bodies of both ship's crew and Eldar raiders, their mingled viscera staining the deck. _

_Only a few xenos stragglers remained, those too wounded or too crazy to escape with their fellow raiders. Not enough to win, but enough to make a bloody mess of things._

_August and his team stumbled upon this pirate playing with his hostage, toying with her in anticipation of their coming. The accursed xeno probably hoped to hide in the deepest bowels of the ship, in one of the innumerable and unmapped chambers of The Spirit of Tanith._

_.Gallardi, Sergeant Sorenson and Guardsman Atkinson, two of Gallardi's fellow storm troopers, patiently followed him waiting for a chance to neutralize the xeno before it reached the service elevators it was subtly edging towards._

_"You have nowhere to run, scum. Let her go!" August ordered._

_The Alien's manic cackle was his only response as he bend down to lick the curvature of his hostage's face with an unnaturally forked tongue, eliciting a whimper of disgust and fear from the ensign. _

_"Foul wretch!" Atkinson spat. The man wanted to rip the xeno apart with his bare hands._

_"Steady, boy," Sorenson tried to calm the angry guardsman. _

_August thanked him mentally - they needed to stay cool for this. One shot, a single precise shot was all Gallardi needed. The Eldar were faster than a man could blink, but a lasbolt moved at the speed of light._

_"Please, I don't want to die!" The ensign begged, her eyes bulging with fear._

_"Everything is going to be alright, girl," Sorenson soothed her, his ginger tones in stark contrast to the deliberate menace in his slow steps forward._

_And then it happened, his chance. _

_In a spilt second the Eldar turned to shield himself from the advancing sergeant, exposing a greater part of his head to August's sight._

_August had a chance and he took it. _

_Gallardi's aim was perfect - a single lasbolt went right through the Eldar's eye and into his brain, killing the alien instantly. The Eldar's body twitched in reflex, pricking the woman's flesh with his blade and leaving a narrow nick in her flesh._

_It was the right choice for the ship, but the end of the Ensign._

_It wasn't his fault, not really. August had no way of knowing that the dark Eldar liked to poison their blades, or how insidious the poisons of the Eldar pirates were. The poison was not instantaneous, the vile creatures liked to enjoy their kills. _

_The ensign's death had been slow and exceedingly painful. Painful enough that August had taken it upon himself to administer the Emperor's mercy upon her, ending with a second lasbolt what he'd started with the first._

And suddenly he was back, willing away the memories of his past failure even as he watched it replay in front of him in grotesque parody of his own failures long past.

"Everything is going to be alright, Larsea." Anaya tried to assure her colleague, looking to August for affirmation.

_"Focus, Gallardi. This isn't the same thing." _August assured himself._ "The hostage was a fellow human back then. This one's an alien. You shouldn't care. No one would shed a tear if she dies."_

It was a lie.

It was a lie he could no longer believe in. He saw how the aliens lived and August knew that in many regards their lifestyle was not so different from the one the imperial citizens had. The Asari officer before him was no exception.

Her trade in life was to uphold the laws of this hive city and to protect the safety of its citizens. When she woke up today, she probably expected this to be another ordinary day. An Arbites just going about the business of keeping people safe, she was respectable in her own right.

Yes, she grew complacent and ended up being a hostage. But the mistake was not entirely hers. The whole situation could have been avoided if Gallardi stayed on the ship.

Now it was up to August to decide how it all ended.

Gallardi's training told him that he should just shoot both Asari and be done with it, to show the mercenaries the error of their judgment. However, Gallardi's conscience, something August was used to ignore during his service in the Guard and the Inquisition, rebelled against such actions.

Somewhere out there, there was a family that waited for these two Asari to return. Probably even children. And those children will wait in vain for their mothers to return, just because one man wasn't able to step on his convictions.

They would become orphans, just like August once had.

_It is with great sadness that I must inform you of the fact that your esteemed mother, Arcadia Dominica Livingston the Fifth, honored Captain of the venerable light cruiser 'Wings of Harakon in service to His Most Divine Majesty's Most Vaunted Imperial Navy, has laid down her life in the service to the God Emperor and the Imperium of Man..._

Gallardi remembered how hollow he felt that fateful day when his caretaker gave him the death notice. Still young and naive, he made himself a promise that he would destroy all the enemies of the Emperor so that no other child had to relieve what he did.

It was an impossible task, but he'd never stopped trying. He never would.

Now August wondered if these aliens should be an exception to his promise and if so, why? Just because these aliens had tentacles instead of hair? Because their skin was different? Because they ate different food?

As one of the great Imperial heroes once said: Under the skin. What matters is on the inside. In the heart. In the mind.

Aliens would always be aliens, but a heart could always be worthy of honor.

"Emperor damn it, why does everything has to be so difficult!" Gallardi cursed under his breath, even though he had already made his decision - he was not going to give away his weapons but he would be damned if he let another pirate kill a hostage in front of him.

Solutions to the predicament were less forthcoming. Shooting the Turian in the head wasn't an option - the xeno would likely reflectively pull the trigger on his gun, killing the hostage. Gallardi needed a distraction, asap.

After a few moments, he realized that he actually had one.

"Forgive me, old friend." August whispered to his gun as he patted its stock lightly and slowly lowered the weapon.

"Gallardi, what are you doing?" Shepard asked him incredulously. "We can't..."

"It's the only way, Shepard and you know it," Gallardi told her and added quietly. "Just be ready for everything."

To her credit, Shepard didn't ask any other questions as she picked her targets.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" The Turian asked sarcastically. "Now, slowly pass all your guns..."

"Should I wrap it up and put a pretty bow on it as well?" Gallardi countered. "If you want it so badly then catch it!"

And with that August threw the lasgun towards the alien, making sure that the weapon flew at the highest altitude possible. His expectations were justified - most of the mercs looked up at the precious weapon.

Everyone froze for a couple of seconds watching it soar through the air. Well, everyone except for Gallardi. The Imperial soldier had already begun to move while the weapon was still in the air.

First, he needed to remove the most obvious threat to him. To his right was an Asari merc with a shotgun, who thought it was a bright idea to stand three or four steps away from an imperial storm trooper and threaten him with a gun.

August's right hand gripped his saber and with one fluid movement the blade was free from its scabbard. Gallardi managed to close the distance between himself and the merc and with a single slash he sliced off a great part of merc's weapon along with her left wrist. The Asari never had a chance to scream in pain because August immediately performed a 360 degree turn and used his momentum to deliver a second strike, this time at the Asari's neck.

Her headless corpse fell and within a moment all hell broke loose.

Gallardi watched as Shepard overloaded the shields of two mercs to her left and shot them in the face with her assault rifle. Miranda used her biotics to lift one of the Turian mercs and then slam him into the ground. Zaeed unleashed a barrage of fire against another couple of mercenaries, forcing them to take cover behind an aircar. Then he just threw a grenade over the vehicle and both enemies disappeared in a fiery cloud.

Grunt gleefully emptied his shotgun into a trio of mercs while Tali created a drone to provide support for the young Krogan. Mordin completely surprised a Batarian merc next to him as using an omni-tool to shock the alien before using the haplessly dazed creature as a living shield whilst firing upon another mercenary dead. After that, the Salarian simply placed his gun against the Batarian's temple and pulled the trigger.

To their credit, the rest of the mercenary group returned fire before the Asari Merc's head hit the pavement. However, that one second made no difference. It was already too late to stop Samara from creating a powerful biotic barrier around Shepard's team. The mercs fired volley after volley into the barrier but they might as well have been shooting at a concrete wall.

Emboldened by their advantage, Shepard's team unleashed their own barrage of bullets, forcing the majority of the mercs to take cover. Gallardi used this opportunity to close in with his chosen targets.

Just as he expected, the merc leader's greed took the better of him as he pushed away his hostage and grabbed the lasgun. Even though her hands were tied, Larsea managed to crawl away and hide behind one of the aircars. The Turian merc gleefully picked up August's lasgun and pointed it at Samara.

Gallardi ignored him - if the alien attempted to use his weapon, he wouldn't be a threat to anyone, August made sure of that. Instead August focused his attention on the second hostage. The Krogan who held her was slowly advancing towards Samara's barrier, most likely hoping to get inside where he could fire for effect. Gallardi took the opportunity to the Krogan, moving silently to the behemoth's side.

Unfortunately his advance was noticed. The Krogan turned to face the Captain and with a savage snarl, pushing his hostage between them. The Asari fell to the ground, rolling over onto her back only to see a shotgun leveled at her. Small biotic tendrils appeared around the terrified Asari as she tried to erect a barrier.

It didn't help.

When the Krogan fired the police officer screamed in pain and curled up into a fetal position. Unable to help her, August leapt over her prone form, rushing towards the Krogan.

The ugly lizard brought up his gun and fired at Gallardi, too close to miss. Gallardi's shields collapsed and he felt sharp pain in his chest and abdomen where he'd been hit. The force of the shot slowed August a little but his forward momentum propelled him past the shot.

With a defiant roar Gallardi sped forward to deliver a powerful overhead swing. The Krogan merc instinctively leaned back and attempted to use his weapon to parry the attack but August simply cut the shotgun in half.

The Krogan staggered back a little as he looked at the two halves of his weapon, dropping the useless weapons as he charged towards Gallardi. Gallardi couldn't help but smile as the dumb brute did precisely what he wanted.

August performed an Eagle Strike, a fencing move that consisted of a small jump quickly followed by a powerful thrust which he aimed at the Krogan's head plate.

Head plates were considered to be one of the toughest parts of Krogan's body but it was nothing against a relic power saber. The blade easily pierced the alien's hide and combined with the momentum of the Krogan's charge, piercing the merc's body up to its hilt. The Krogan blinked a couple of times before his body realized that its brain was long dead. The alien slowly sagged down in a mess of confused gore.

Gallardi wrenched his blade clear from the Krogan and turned to face the merc leader as he fiddled with the sabotaged weapon. The merc leader dropped it, finally realizing the lasgun was useless. The Turian grabbed the assault rifle on his back and opened fire, irate at having fallen for the human's ruse.

Dodging the hail of projectiles, Gallardi managed to jump behind cover just in time.

His hand instinctively went to his plasma pistol before he remembered that the gun was already dry. "Damn," Gallardi muttered to himself, reaching for another holster. He reluctantly unholstered his Carnifex pistol. Taking a slow breath to steady himself, August peeked over his cover, gun at the ready.

The Turian was already running away. The damned xeno had finally realized that this was way over his head and decided to bail out. Gallardi popped up from cover, opening fire with his pistol.

He scored a couple of hits but the Turian's barriers soaked them in. The merc leader turned around and opened fire once again, forcing August back into cover. As he reloaded his weapon, Gallardi looked back to assess the situation.

The fighting was almost over. The mercenaries were now completely outnumbered thanks to the sudden arrival of police riot teams. Biotics were flying everywhere. Detective Anaya was crouching beside her hurt colleague and was screaming for a medic. Mordin appeared beside her and started working on the wounded Asari.

"_Good,_" August thought to himself. It was clear that the Asari would live, Mordin would not waste his time and expertise trying to save the deceased. "_Time to finish this._"

He left his cover and started shooting once again at the fleeing merc. The Turian's shields finally gave in, his second successful shot piercing the back armor of the alien. The Turian grunted, trying to return fire.

August fired another shot and hit the leader's left elbow before the merc even managed to raise his rifle. The xeno cried out in pain, losing his grip on the assault rifle. The Turian tried to reach for a side arm with his good hand, fingers grasping at an empty holster. The pistol was long lost, upended in the scuffle beforehand.

Out of other options the merc reached for his last weapon - a short serrated blade. August stared at the alien, briefly not sure if he was serious. A pregnant moment passed Gallardi decided to humor the xenos.

"If you insist," August muttered in disbelief, holstering his pistol and advancing with his humming power weapon. The merc, apparently finally coming to grips with the gravity of his situation, dropped the blade and backed away with palms raised in surrender.

"Alright, alright, alright, you've made your point, human. You won," the merc said with a nervous chuckle. He held up his hands amiably. "Let's talk this through, it was just business, nothing personal..."

Gallardi ignored him, chopping off the alien's arm lazy swipe of the blade.

The Turian screamed as he fell to his knees. He started at his mangled arm for a moment before looking up at Gallardi with a hateful expression on his face.

The last thing the Turian would ever see was a descending power saber.

The blade sliced the Turian's head and neck into two halves, lodging into the merc's upper torso. August placed his leg on the alien's chest and pushed it away, freeing his blade.

The battle was over. Those mercenaries still uninjured enough to do so dropped their guns and raised their hands in surrender. They were quickly brought down and cuffed by Asari police.

Shepard's team remained alert, especially the Commander herself. August watched as she switched to her missile launcher and started watching the sky.

"What is going on, Spectre?" Detective Anaya asked, confused by Shepard's behavior.

"Unless these mercs were immensely dumb, they would've had some sort of quick extraction plan," Shepard replied. "They must have either a gunship or a shuttle on standby somewhere close."

As if to confirm her words, the roar of jet engines filled the air and a Mantis gunship appeared from behind one of the buildings. Shepard quickly took aim and fired a single missile at the aircraft. The gunship's shields soaked in the blast but instead of retaliating, the gunship backed away and turned to fly away from the place of battle. The gunship pilot's actions were immediately explained as Gallardi heard a second set of engines, closing fast.

A different gunship appeared, sleeker than Mantis. This was an obviously Asari-made aircraft that carried the crest of the Illium Law Enforcement. The police gunship immediately went into hot pursuit with its mercenary counterpart and in a few moments both aircraft disappeared from sight.

"Sky is clear," Shepard announced. The woman then turned and approached Mordin and his patient. "How is she doing, Professor?"

"Patient stabilized," the Salarian replied briefly. "However, surgery must be performed within an hour or else her survival is problematic."

"There is a hospital two blocks away from here," Anaya noted and turned to one of her subordinates. "Keiri, warm up the shuttle, we do not have time to wait for the ambulance."

"Already done, detective!" The Asari officer reported.

"Good, someone find me a stretcher then!" Anaya ordered.

"Step away, detective," Samara said calmly as she approached the group.

The Justicar's biotics flared and she gently raised the wounded Asari in the air.

"Thank you, Justicar. The shuttle is this way," Anaya said and led Samara away.

"_Well, if the Emperor wills it, the Asari will make it,_" August thought to himself as he watched the scene. He had to immediately remind himself that the Emperor will have nothing to do with the wellbeing of an alien. The Asari will have to rely on the mercy of whatever 'Goddess' they worshipped.

Gallardi looked back at the mangled corpse of the mercenary leader. "It didn't work as you thought it would, huh?"

He switched off the power field on his saber and then kissed the blade near its hilt.

"Three for the Emperor," Gallardi muttered as he placed the saber back in its scabbard. He then started walking back to the group and as he began moving his wounds began to seriously hurt.

"Dammit," August swore as he examined his chest plate and saw three punctures with blood seeping out of them. Gallardi stopped near one of the benches, sat down and took out his medi-gel dispenser.

"Gallardi, what's your status?" August heard Shepard ask. He looked up and saw the woman approach him. In the next moment, Shepard finally noticed that Gallardi was wounded and rushed towards him. "Mordin, up front! Gallardi's been shot!"

"I'm fine," August mumbled.

"I'm sure that you are," Shepard said sarcastically as she examined the holes in his armor. "We'll have to take the chest piece off."

Shepard looked around and shouted to her team. "Secure the perimeter! Miranda, call the Normandy and tell them to send the shuttle to extract us. As soon as the shuttle takes off, tell Joker to initiate a complete lockdown. No one is to leave or board the ship unless I say so."

"Copy that, Shepard," Miranda replied and began hailing the Normandy.

The Commander returned her attention to August's breast plate and helped him remove it. Mordin appeared nearby and immediately run a scan of Gallardi's chest.

"How bad?" Shepard asked simply.

"Punctures not deep, no damage to internal organs. Armor and shields soaked in most of the punishment," Mordin replied as he started applying the medi-gel. "Still, two day suspension from duty is recommended."

"Two days it is. Are we clear about that, Gallardi?" Shepard asked August.

"Yes, Shepard," August said grudgingly. He was never the one to sit his duty out in the infirmary but Gallardi knew that he had his limits.

"Good," Shepard nodded. "You know, I understand that you're trying to impress us ladies but you should really stop doing that."

"I'm not doing all this to impress the ladies!" August protested.

"You don't? Well, let me tell something about women - even in our advanced age a lot of them love dashing swordsmen," Shepard said with a smirk. "And I'm not merely talking about human women."

With that, the Commander looked at something in the distance and August followed her gaze. His eyes stopped at the group of Asari police officers that were standing not too far away. They were obviously discussing him and the rest of Shepard's group and while most of them were either slightly scared or in awe of him, some of the Asari looked at him with undisguised curiosity, the type of curiosity that Gallardi would ordinarily have welcomed from human women but definitely not from aliens.

August sighed heavily and hung his head. "I'm digging myself a bigger grave, aren't I?"

"I wouldn't mind having such a grave," Zaeed said as he approached the trio. "I really don't get you, Gallardi. Do you know that there are millions of punks out there that would kill to have a pussy magnet like yours?"

"They can have it. Free of charge," August said sourly.

"Ain't working that way," the old mercenary chuckled and handled August his lasgun. "Nice trick by the way. Was wondering why that asshole didn't use your gun on us."

"What trick is he talking about?" Shepard asked Gallardi.

As a way of response, August took the gun from Zaeed and then gave it to Shepard.

"Uh, thanks?" The Commander said as she took the lasgun and started to examine it. She stopped after a few moments. "Wait, where is the trigger?"

August raised his mechanical arm and flexed his fingers. "You can easily break a lot of things with this."

"Oh, very clever," Shepard smiled. "It's not damaged beyond repair, right?"

"No, it's just a steel trigger," Gallardi replied. He then nodded to Mordin who by the time finished treating his wounds. "Thanks, professor." August added as he fixed his battered chest plate back in place.

Gallardi stood up slowly and saw as both Samara and Anaya approached the group. While the Justicar looked absolutely serene, the Asari detective was obviously really pissed off.

"Justicar Samara, detective," August heard as Shepard greeted the Asari. "How is officer Neira?"

"The shuttle is on its way to the hospital," Samara replied. "If the Goddess is willing, it will arrive shortly and the young Neira will make it."

"Let's hope for the best…" Shepard said.

"I am sorry but can someone please explain to me just what the hell happened?"

Detective Anaya interrupted the Commander. "Two of my colleagues were nearly killed, and I've three more lightly wounded just because a group of well-armed mercenaries wanted to get a gun from one of your team members, Spectre. What is so special about it?"

"It's a laser gun," Shepard replied simply.

Anaya's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to form a coherent response.

"As I see you already understand why these mercs wanted the weapon so badly,"

Victoria continued. "The reward is astronomical."

"Great," Anaya said with a snort and turned to Gallardi. "You know, human, if you are mad enough to wander around Illium with that kind of equipment, that is your choice. But did it not cross your mind that you might endanger others?"

"It's not my fault that someone placed a bounty on me or that you allow mercenaries to walk freely upon your world," August replied angrily and stepped closer to Asari. "Be thankful that I didn't simply shoot your colleagues!"

Anaya also stepped closer. "Just who the hell do you think you are?" she hissed.

"Enough, both of you. The last thing we need is more casualties," Shepard said as she placed herself between Anaya and August. "Detective, before you cast blame on someone, let me inform you that said bounty was posted by each and every corporation that might be interested in such a weapon, including those that are located here on Illium."

Anaya looked like she wanted to argue but then the Asari simply threw her hands in the air, turned around and left.

"Would you have really shot the hostages?" Samara asked Gallardi all of a sudden.

"I was well within my rights to do so," August replied.

"Is there a personal quarrel that you have with my people?" The Justicar queried.

"I have no personal quarrel with Asari species. I have a quarrel with all aliens," Gallardi told her.

"How so?" Samara persisted.

"Justicar, this is neither a right time nor place to have this conversation," the Commander intervened. "We're going to discuss this once we're back on board our ship."

Samara simply nodded. "As you wish, Commander."

"Shepard, the shuttle is approaching. Goldstein just sent me the coordinates," Miranda said as she approached them.

"Good. Lead on, Miranda," Shepard nodded and the whole team departed.

As they walked, August felt Shepard once again match her pace with him.

"Thank you," the woman said simply.

"For what?" Gallardi asked her.

"For not killing the hostages. I'll be honest with you, I fully expected you to do exactly that," Shepard explained. "And what's more important, I would not have stopped you from doing it; the stakes were indeed too high. So, thank you. For finding another way out."

"Well, you seem to be the only one grateful here," August said darkly.

"Don't be so hard on them, they have no idea who you are," Shepard said. "Unlike me or the rest of our team, these people don't understand why it's so difficult for you to make such decisions. You probably had to go against a lot of rules today."

"Yes," August nodded somberly. "Ever since I came here, I've made a lot of things that would have seen me executed several times over."

"But you still decided to save these two," Shepard noted.

"I guess you could say that this place is finally rubbing off of me," August said with a shrug. "These two Asari were innocents that got caught in crossfire, and I could no longer say with a clear conscience that I don't care whether they live or die despite being aliens."

"You're a good man, Gallardi. Don't believe anyone who would say otherwise," Shepard said and patted his shoulder.

They heard the familiar sound of Kodiak's engines and saw as Normandy's shuttle landed nearby on a free landing pad.

As they went to board the shuttle, Gallardi heard a sound of someone running behind him.

"Mister Gallardi, wait!" A familiar voice said and as August turned around, he saw officer Larsea running towards him. The alien already had a light bandage around her neck.

Gallardi involuntarily took a step back because he expected to be embraced by an Asari once again. To his immense relief, Larsea stopped at the respectful distance away from him.

"Thank the Goddess you have not left already," the officer said as she panted lightly.

"You needed something, officer?" August asked neutrally.

"I just wanted to thank you, sir," Larsea said. "And... Well, to apologize - if I and Neira were not so complacent, this whole mess would not have occurred in the first place."

That actually took August by surprise. He expected gratitude but not humility. Not sure at first how he should reply, August decided to be diplomatic about it.

"None of us is beyond failure, officer," he said plainly.

"That is kind of you to say but my apology still stands," the Asari said. "Because of me, Neira is in Intensive Care and you got shot, as well as some of my fellow officers."

"Your apology is welcome then," Gallardi said with a nod.

He turned around and took another step towards the shuttle. However, his curiosity got the better of him and he turned to face the Asari once again.

"Do you have family, officer?" August asked.

The alien smiled shyly and answered. "Yes, I have a bondmate and a daughter Siara. She will turn fifteen in a couple of months. Thanks to you, I have a chance to watch her grow up."

Gallardi simply nodded. It was good to know that his actions were indeed justified.

"Stay sharp out there, officer," August added.

"I will," the Asari said. "Good fortune to you, sir"

Larsea touched her forehead above her brow and Gallardi realized that it was some kind of salute. He saluted her back and then finally boarded the shuttle.

The doors closed and August fell as the craft took off.

"They aren't so bad, are they?" Shepard asked. She obviously saw the whole exchange.

"Some of them are not," August agreed as he strapped into his harness. "We should alert the second team just in case, although I'm sure the Farseer already saw the whole thing."

"You're right," Shepard said and activated her com. "Garrus, this is Shepard. Come in."

August heard a muffled reply from inside of Shepard's helmet.

"We're alright, Garrus. Well, for the moment at least," the Commander continued.

"Listen, we're returning to the Normandy. The Justicar is with us, she agreed to help but that's not what's important. We were ambushed by a group of mercs a short time ago. Gallardi has been shot but it's nothing life threatening. I just wanted to… What?"

Shepard stopped talking abruptly as she listened to Turian's reply. "He did what? What happened?"

* * *

><p><em>Earlier that day, a different part of Nos Astra…<em>

Maeteris followed Garrus as they searched for their informant. Jack walked beside her, flanked by Kasumi and Jacob.

Even though Garrus expertly kept his image of a professional soldier, the Farseer could feel his growing agitation.

"Perhaps it would be best if you simply ask the question that bothers you so much, Garrus Vakarian?" Maeteris finally asked him.

The Turian let out a slightly relieved sigh. "I suppose you're right. Look, Farseer, I just want to know who is in charge of this operation."

"It was my understanding that Commander Shepard appointed you as a team leader," Maeteris replied. "I have no desire to question her leadership."

"That's… Good to know," Garrus nodded. "I'm just not very comfortable with the idea of giving orders to someone who is older than the entire Vakarian family line."

"Do not let it concern you," the Farseer said as they walked through the crowd towards their objective.

Very soon they approached one of the large office buildings and Garrus checked his omni-tool. "This looks like the place."

"Indeed it is," Maeteris agreed. The building matched her visions. She pointed at one of the Asari office workers that could be seen through the window. "And this is our informant."

The Turian checked the photo on his omni-tool, nodding in agreement. "Yes, it's Seryna. I'll go talk to her, shouldn't take too much time."

"Might I suggest a different approach?" Maeteris asked him.

Garrus looked at her curiously. "Uh, sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Let Jack give it a try," the Farseer said and looked at the young psyker.

"Nah, I'm not good at talking…" Jack began.

"I never said you should talk to her," Maeteris said simply. "Her thoughts should tell you all we need to know."

Jack understood what the Farseer was talking about and turned to look at Seryna. "Okay, but she is an Asari. Is she going to… feel my presence or something?"

"Not unless you try to force yourself deeper inside her mind," Maeteris said as she shook her head. "And that is not required here. Simply brush against her surface thoughts."

"You already know everything we need to know, don't you?" Jack asked her.

"Perhaps I do. But it is an opportunity for you to learn," the Farseer told her.

"Fine, let's do it," Jack closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She then opened her eyes and carefully reached out with her mind.

And immediately backed off.

"Fuck. No, no way it's going to work," Jack said as she shook her head.

"You need to focus," Maeteris told her simply.

"I'm not ready for this!" the young psyker argued.

"I alone will be the judge of that."

"Is there a problem?" Garrus asked carefully.

"Yes, there is a fucking problem," Jack said heatedly. "You and everyone else really like to think a lot. Trying to hear the thoughts of one person is like trying to hear a voice of one man in a crowded stadium."

"On both occasions the only thing you will need is to focus on the person you are trying to hear," Maeteris said. "Focus on the Asari and try again."

Jack snorted but complied. She took several deep breaths and then tried once again. After a few seconds of struggle she gave up again.

"No, it's not working, there are too many people here," Jack said.

"Focus," Maeteris said sternly and crossed her arms.

Jack threw her an angry glare. Some part of the woman, the part that never accepted any authority, wanted to rebel against Maeteris' insistence. But of course there was another part of Jack, the part that never backed away from any challenge. Despite her constant attempts to prove the opposite, Jack was still very young and like all young people, she always desperately wanted to prove herself to those who were older and more experienced than she.

Therefore, instead of arguing further, Jack prepared to make another attempt. She steadied her breathing, opening her mind. This time, she didn't try to immediately reach out towards the mind of Seryna but studied the flow of thoughts all around her.

"_Good. You finally understand,_" Maeteris spoke with her mind. "_Your spirit is strong but against the collective strength of the minds of this world, you are nothing. Do not try to force your way through these thoughts. Instead, see them for what they are – a turbulent sea with its winds and currents. You cannot change the current and you cannot change the winds. So instead of trying to change the nature of things, go with the flow. Go with the flow and allow it to carry you towards your goal._"

Jack didn't reply but Maeteris knew the human understood her. Slowly, the human allowed the ethereal winds to carry her forth. The temperature in the real world dropped a little as Jack's hands curled up into fists but she didn't back down.

After a few silent moments, Jack let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes.

"Alright… Alright, I think I got something," Jack said and then went towards a nearby wall. Once she reached the wall, she leaned against it and slowly sagged down.

"Jack, are you alright?" Garrus asked as the group quickly approached her.

"Yeah, just give me a couple of minutes," Jack waved her hand. "Look, this Seryna, she is bored out of her mind and she can't wait for this day to over. I think she is getting transferred today, I don't know. Anyway, there one thought that improves her mood very much and that is, I quote: I hope that Krios is going to get that bitch Dantius."

"Dantius? Nassana Dantius?" Garrus asked her.

"Didn't get the full name," Jack shook her head.

"Are you familiar with this Dantius person?" Maeteris asked the Turian.

"We crossed paths with her two years ago, she managed to manipulate us into killing her sister," Garrus replied. "At first she told us that her sister was being held captive by a bunch of slavers. However, it turned out that her sister was the leader of said slavers."

"So, the rumors are true," Kasumi said as she touched her chin thoughtfully. "I guess that the rest of the rumors about her are true as well - a lot of her business competitors are either dead or out of business for good."

"And now someone sent Krios to assassinate her," Garrus noted. "Ironic, isn't it?"

"Well, if our mysterious Drell is going after Nassana then there is only one place for him to go," Kasumi said as she looked at the city vista.

"Where's that?" Jacob asked her as he looked in the same direction.

"The Dantius Towers, of course," the thief said as she nodded towards the two large skyscrapers in the distance. "She started building them a couple of years ago. Word on the street is that she got paranoid and rarely leaves the place."

"Then it looks like we have a new destination," Garrus said. He then turned to look at Jack. "Nice work, Jack."

"Fucking A work, if you ask me," Jack said and looked at Maeteris. The Farseer simply gave a short appreciative nod.

"Ri-i-ight," Jack said as she picked herself up. "It's really not so hard to say: Good job, Jack. You're making good progress."

"Had you not wasted so much time arguing with me, perhaps I would have said so," Maeteris replied simply.

Jack sighed and muttered. "Why do I even bother?"

The group assembled and went to look for a transport that would get them to the Dantius Towers. They rented one of the available aircars and Garrus took the wheel.

"What kind of opposition should we expect?" The Turian asked as they approached the towers.

"The guards will wear the uniforms that are similar to the ones worn by the mercenaries Commander Shepard faced yesterday," Maeteris replied.

"Eclipse," Garrus nodded and turned to address the rest of the group. "Watch out for enemy mechs and automated defenses. Jack, Maeteris, you will take care of any Asari biotics."

"Certainly," the Farseer said simply.

"Alright, I'm bringing us to the unfinished building. There should be less outer defenses there."

The aircar turned and flew towards the highest landing pad available. As soon as they landed, Maeteris left the car and dismissed her illusion.

"Huh, I kind of forgot than you were wearing the armor," Jack said as she stopped beside her.

Maeteris didn't reply as she affixed her helmet, its sophisticated sensors informing her of gunfire not too far away from where they'd landed.

"It seems that the guards are already on alert," the Farseer mused, looking at the source of the sound of gunfire.

Through a large transparent baffle several Salarians running were running away from incoming gunfire. The unarmed civilians were no match for the combat drones chasing them. Maeteris winced as she felt the death sensations of an unfortunate Salarian as the drone fired projectiles ripped through unarmored flesh.

"We must help them! Move in and engage!" Garrus shouted and opened fire on the baffle, Jacob following him immediately. The screen turned out to be made of glass and after a few hits it broke and collapsed. Jacob and Garrus immediately dashed forward through the breach with Kasumi and Jack running behind them.

It was then that the Salarians' attackers finally appeared. They were one of those many clumsy automatons Maeteris saw several times in her visions.

The Farseer knew that they posed little threat and her team members would have little trouble deposing of them. It didn't take much time for the team to dispatch the mechs and after that Garrus went to check the closest Salarian body.

"Check the others, see if any of them are still alive!" the Turian ordered and the team dispersed in search of the survivors.

It was an unnecessary command, Maeteris knew that only one of the Salarians survived, but it would achieve nothing for her to say so. Slowly, she approached the wounded alien. He looked up at her with pleading eyes as he desperately tried to stop the blood flowing from his abdomen.

"Help me, please!" the Salarian begged the Farseer weakly.

For a moment, Maeteris wondered why such a short living creatures as Salarians would waste their precious lifetime on something as mundane as a job of the construction worker. Then again, not everyone was destined to be born with a bright mind like that of Mordin Solus.

Maeteris took pity on the creature. Salarian life was hardly an instant by Eldar standards, but there was no reason to end the life of any being prematurely. Maeteris touched a certain set of runes with her mind, summoning them to float around her hand in ethereal floating circles of balefire. She extended her arm towards the Salarian and started channeling the healing spell through the runes, healing his broken body.

The wound began to knit itself and in a few moments only a small scar and fresh blood were the only reminders that the Salarian was wounded recently. The alien stared at his scar then he looked at Maeteris with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

"But... how?" The Salarian asked.

"Consider it a revolutionary healing technology," the Farseer replied simply. "Can you tell us who you are and why you were attacked?"

"I… we're night workers. Nassana… sent the mechs to round us…" Salarian replied as he slowly stood up. "The mercs were telling us to leave immediately but we were too slow… Most of us just wanted to pick up their things… Then the mercenaries simply ordered the mechs to start shooting…"

"Do you know why they did all this?" Garrus asked once he got closer to Maeteris and the Salarian.

"I have no idea," the worker replied. He coughed a couple of times and continued. "We knew that Nassana was ruthless but I never thought she would do something like this."

"Trust me, you don't know a half of it," Garrus told him. "We're looking for someone here. Have you seen any strangers around the building recently?"

"No. No, I don't think so." The worker shook his head.

"In that case, that will be all," the Farseer concluded. "It will be best that you leave now, the lower levels are safe."

"Of course, thank you," the Salarian said. He studied Maeteris for a brief moment and then asked. "I'm sorry who are you? I have never seen such armor before. Is this some new Asari design?"

"Your curiosity will have to be sated some other time. Leave. Now," Maeteris said, a little sternly this time. She had no desire to waste her time explaining who she was to this alien.

"O-of course, sorry. Thank you again," the Salarian muttered as he started walking towards the exit. He thanked her couple more times and then thanked the other members of the team, who stood nearby.

The Salarian worker made several steps before he stopped and turned around to say. "There are other workers on the higher levels. Help them, please!"

"We'll do everything we can," Garrus promised him with a short nod.

"Thank you," the Salarian said with obvious relief in his voice. He then turned around and ran towards the exit.

Once the Salarian disappeared from sight, the rest of the team approached the Eldar.

"Wow, that was amazing, Maeteris!" Kasumi was the first to say. "I mean, throwing lightning is cool but healing without touching is just... Wow!"

"Hands that kill can also cure," Maeteris noted matter-of-factly as she dismissed the healing runes and they resumed hovering around her.

"So it would seem," Garrus said and Maeteris noticed a hint of disapproval in his voice. "What about the rest of the Salarians?"

Maeteris looked around at the corpses of the other aliens and then at Garrus. "I am a competent healer but I cannot cure death."

"That's not what meant," the Turian shook his head. "You knew this was going to happen? That these workers will get in the crossfire?"

"No, I did not," Maeteris replied, slightly annoyed with his tone. "The divination is not such a precise craft as you might have thought it is. I only see flashes of what can happen and even then I only focus on things that are relevant to our cause."

She then waved towards the bodies of dead Salarians. "These were not relevant."

"This isn't right," Jacob joined their argument as he stepped closer. "They were living people not so long ago, just like us."

Maeteris was getting tired of this. "Should I remind you all of the reason we came here?"

"To recruit a lizard," Jack replied, obviously bored with the whole argument.

"In a sense," the Farseer said with a nod. "Since it is obvious that he already went after his target our goal is to ensure that he survives after claiming the life of Nassana Dantius."

She turned around and went towards one of the exits from the hall. "It is also obvious that he was the reason this whole unfortunate slaughter happened. So if you are so keen on finding someone to blame for the deaths of these Salarians, take it up with him."

Garrus sighed heavily and spoke. "Look, no one's trying to blame you for this..."

Maeteris quickly stopped and turned around. "If not, then what is the purpose of this conversation?"

"It's just that... Was there really nothing we could do to prevent all this?" The Turian asked as he waved at the bodies around them.

"Perhaps there was, if saving the civilians was our primary goal here," Maeteris replied with a slight shrug. "However, I was focused on a different objective. And so should you. We have wasted enough time here. I suggest that we start moving as soon as possible if you wish to ensure the assassin's survival."

"Yeah, you're right," the Turian finally agreed with her and checked his rifle. "Ok, the Eclipse is probably patrolling all the levels from here to the second building where Dantius is hiding. So if Thane is to reach Nassana safely, he will need a good distraction. And we're his unexpected distraction, am I right?"

Maeteris simply nodded.

"Well, if we're a distraction then let's go make some noise," Jacob said as he reloaded his assault rifle.

"Finally," Jack was obviously bored to death when she said that.

"Let's move out," Garrus ordered and motioned for everyone to follow him.

As they went further into the building, Kasumi matched her step with Maeteris. "You shouldn't be so hard on Garrus and Jacob. They are good guys, the 'to serve and protect' type. They're simply don't like to see innocents die."

"It is a commendable trait but as soldiers they must always remember that many times duty stands above everything else," the Farseer replied plainly.

"I'm sure they know that," Kasumi said. Then she decided to switch the topic. "Anyway, once again, it was really nice of you to cure that Salarian. I should warn you though, it would be better if you don't use it too much in public. The last guy who did something like that started a religion that is over two thousand years old by now. I don't think you would want to be a Messiah."

"I most certainly do not," Maeteris shook her head in dismay at the prospect of being worshipped. "I will try to be more discreet from now on, thank you for the advice."

"Well, that's unless one of our guys gets hit," Kasumi added hastily. "In that case, fire away and consequences be damned."

Maeteris chuckled. She was really starting to warm up to the thief's cheerful demeanor.

"I suppose that is a fair request,"

They encountered the first mercenary patrol shortly. They Eclipse mercs opened fire as soon as they spotted the group. Judging by the merc's radio exchange they were protecting the route to the top of the building.

The mercenaries were using stacks of various construction materials as improvised cover. Unfortunately for them, Maeteris was well versed in telekinesis. Flinging them aside with her mind, the majority of the mercs were exposed to her allies' weapons.

Not foolish enough to fight them on their own, those mercenaries that survived radioed for re-enforcements. Two Asari commandos arrived in short order.

The commandoes quickly realized that Maeteris was the main threat, launching their biotic attacks at her. It was a powerful if uncreative attack. She could perhaps have blocked it, but at times simpler methods were best. Maeteris somersaulted to the left, avoiding the bursts of biotic energy entirely.

Landing catlike upon the ground, the Farseer harnessed her own powers to launch pair of lightning bolts towards the Asari mercenaries. The still convulsing corpses of the mercenaries fell to the ground, a sizzling pile of blue charnel.

"Clear!" Jacob announced loudly, more for the benefit of the rest of the team since Maeteris was fully aware that there were no enemies close by.

"You know, you're not doing it right?" Maeteris heard Kasumi say as the woman approached her. "The whole lightning thing, I mean."

Maeteris looked at her dubiously, wondering how can a non-psyker be any judge of her skills but then Maeteris felt Kasumi's humorous mood and realized that the woman was once again attempting to make a joke.

"Well then, tell me what I did wrong," Maeteris said, doing her best to sound genuinely interested. "I was always under the impression that I was a skilled Seer but one can never know."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, your lightning bolts are effective but they're not flashy enough. I suggest that instead of sending singular powerful bolts you should send a torrent of less powerful ones," Kasumi said, barely able to contain her giggles. "And then you should laugh maniacally and scream at the top of your voice: Power! Unlimited power!"

That caused both Garrus and Jacob to chuckle while Jack stared at them dubiously. "Was that supposed to mean something?" She asked.

"Oh, come on. I'm a Turian and even I know the reference," Garrus replied.

Jack simply shrugged and continued walking.

"I am not familiar with the reference as well, for obvious reasons," Maeteris said, even though she was certain that it was a reference to some work of fictional art. "But even if I was, I would not have resorted to doing something so... childish."

"Hey, the guy who did that pretty soon became the Galactic Emperor," Kasumi retorted lightly. Then she quickly added. "Not that Emperor, the other Emperor."

"Then I pity those who had to live under his rule," Maeteris said simply.

"Well, they didn't suffer for a very long time. He ruled only for..." the thief stopped and scratched her temple thoughtfully. "Actually, I don't remember for how long."

"Luke was nineteen when forth episode started," Jacob said. "So Palpatine ruled only slightly longer than that."

"In that case I shall continue using my old techniques," Maeteris stared simply. "I have been walking the Path of the Seer for centuries, which is a tad longer than the rule of your fictional character, would you not agree?"

"Hm, good point!" Kasumi said cheerfully.

As the group got closer to the elevator, they encountered another group of mercenaries. These were also dispatched with ease. One of the Salarian mercenaries even dropped his weapon and ran away into the depth of the building when he saw his Asari colleague get hit by Maeteris' lightning strike. The team decided not to waste time pursuing him.

They approached the elevator and Garrus was about to summon it when Maeteris raised her hand to stop him and then looked at one of the locked doors nearby.

"What is it?" Garrus asked her.

"There are people hiding in that room," Jack answered for Maeteris. "More Salarians would be my guess."

"Indeed," Maeteris nodded. "It seems like they were locked in there from the outside."

"Not for long," Garrus said and went disengage the lock on the door.

As soon as he opened the door Maeteris saw a small group of Salarian workers raise their hands in surrender.

"Please, don't shoot us. We'll go, we'll go!" One of the Salarians pleaded.

"Wait, look! They are not Eclipse!" The other Salarian noted.

"Oh. A-are you here to help us?" The first Salarian asked as he slowly lowered his hands.

"That's one of the reasons we're here," Garrus replied. "Are you alright? Is anyone wounded?"

"No, thank you for asking," the first worker replied. "We've been sitting here ever since that Drell locked us in."

"A Drell locked you in here?" Garrus clarified.

"Yes. When he found us, I thought he was going to kill us but he just closed the door and sealed us in," another Salarian said. "Not one of the mercs and since he's not a Salarian, he was not one of the workers either."

"Hm, looks like our assassin was trying to keep them safe," Kasumi mused.

"More like trying to fix his own fuck up," Jacob scoffed.

"Assassin?" the first Salarian asked fearfully.

"Here for Nassana, I think," the second one added acidly. "She's got it coming. If you keep treating people like she does, it will one day bite you in the ass."

"If the Drell already passed through here then he is already on his way to Nassana's penthouse," Garrus concluded and asked the workers. "Do you know the quickest way to the top?"

"The cargo elevator behind you should still work," the first Salarian replied. "It leads almost to the last level. From there you should cross the bridge that connects the towers. But be careful – the last level is not finished. Some of the walls are still out and it's a long way down. Also be careful when you're on the bridge, the wind is pretty strong up there."

"And it's cold, I hate working up there," the other Salarian added and shuddered visibly.

"Thanks for the tip," Garrus said with a nod. "You better leave now; the lower levels should be safe."

"Yes, thank you. We are forever in your debt," the Salarian said with a slight bow. Then he turned to address his coworkers. "Let's get going."

The group briefly watched the Salarians running away and then went back to the elevator. However, as soon as Garrus reached the control panel he immediately backed off.

"Someone is coming down," the Turian informed them. "And I doubt that they're friendly. Everyone, take cover!"

Everyone, except Maeteris, followed the Turian's advice and sought cover behind different crates and stacks of construction materials. As for the Farseer, she simply walked away from the elevator and unsheathed her sword.

"Maeteris, what are you doing?" Jacob asked from behind his cover.

"Just be ready to fire as soon as the door fully opens," Maeteris replied and activated her sword with her mind and the graceful blade hummed into life.

"Mezzanine. Have a pleasant day," a synthetic female voice announced as soon as the elevator stopped. As soon as the doors began to open, Maeteris attacked.

The Krogan that stood on the other side of the doors had just enough time to notice both the Farseer and the spinning sword that was flying towards his face. The witchblade pierced the alien's skull effortlessly, pulping the Krogan's skull under the weight of her focused psychic might.

The mercenaries flanking the gory mess of Krogan viscera held together by battle-armor stared in disbelief at its corpse, apparently stupefied by how quickly the hulking alien was killed and the unorthodox manner of his demise. It gave Garrus and the rest of the team more than enough time to gun the mercs down where they stood.

"That was certainly an original move," Garrus noted as he left his cover and approached the Eldar. "Although a bit risky, in my opinion, as it leaves you without a..."

Before he managed to finish his thought, Maeteris extended her arm and reached for her blade with her mind. With a little effort the blade left the Krogan's corpse and returned to Farseer's hand.

"...Weapon," the Turian finished and stared as Maeteris casually sheathed her sword. "Never mind, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now."

"You and me both, Garrus," Jacob added.

"Teach me the mysteries of the Force, Master Jedi," Maeteris heard Kasumi snicker. When the woman saw Maeteris' questioning look she added. "Sorry, I just had to say that."

"One day you will have to introduce me to the material you keep referencing to," Maeteris said as she started walking towards the elevator. "So that I could finally stop guessing whether I was insulted or complemented."

"It's a deal!" Kasumi announced. "Next time we have a long travel we gonna have a movie night. It will be fun!"

They entered the elevator and Garrus ordered it to go upward and the team continued their ascent.

As the team finally reached the top level they left the elevator and almost run into a lone merc, who seemed completely oblivious to the things happening around him. Instead of watching the corridor and the cargo elevator behind him, the mercenary was looking leisurely through the window while talking to someone over the com.

"No, I haven't seen them. Look, you worry too much," the merc said to his invisible partner. "Yes, I heard what others said but seriously, lightning? They probably just saw some new biotic stuff and lost their shit... Listen, there's no way those guys get through that bridge and I'll notify you as soon as I see them... Yes, I have everything under control. No one gets past me... Sure, I'll contact you later."

The merc switched off his com and turned around only to find Maeteris and the team standing right in front of him.

"Well, shit," the man said nervously. He backed away a little and studied Maeteris. "Nice getup. What, the circus moved on but you got left behind?"

Maeteris studied him in turn. "I would have considered that to be an insult if not for the fact that your legs are shaking from fear. Besides, your attempt to insult me sounds rather ironic considering the fact that you're a human male dressed in yellow armor with a symbol of the sun on your chest."

"That's the symbol of the Eclipse..." the merc protested weakly which caused Maeteris' companions to laugh.

"Of course, how terrible of me to miss such an important detail," the Farseer mocked him with an apologetic tone. "It changes everything, does it not? The symbol of the sun and the moon gathered together is a very... manly symbol."

"Don't play with fire unless you wanna get burned, son," Jacob said as he and the rest of the team laughed at the hapless merc.

"What do you want?" The Eclipse mercenary asked as he backed away. "Wait, I'm not telling you anything."

"No one is asking for you to say anything," Maeteris said and immediately invaded his mind.

The human's thoughts were slightly addled and Maeteris realized that the mercenary was on drugs, which explained why he was bold enough to try and insult her. It mattered little, of course. Maeteris found the information the merc was trying to hide and left the human's mind.

"A barricade with several mercenaries and two primitive missile launchers? Did you really think that it is going to stop us from crossing that bridge?" Maeteris asked the mercenary.

"But how... How?" The merc stuttered, obviously stunned by Maeteris' question.

The Farseer did not grace his query with a response and simply turned to walk away.

"We have learned all that we need. Let us proceed further," she said as she passed Garrus.

The Turian nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him. "Form up, people. We're moving out."

"What about this piece of shit?" Jack asked as she pointed at the Eclipse merc.

"His life is of no consequence," Maeteris said over her shoulder.

"Good," Jack said simply.

The next thing Maeteris heard was a sound of biotic discharge followed by a sound of shattered glass and cry of terror from the mercenary. She turned around and saw Jack stand near the broken window and looking down.

"Have a pleasant flight, motherfucker!" The young woman shouted jovially.

The rest of the group also gathered near the broken window and looked down trying to see the falling merc but at this point it was already impossible to do so without a scope or binoculars.

"Was that really necessary?" Garrus asked Jack, although guessing by his tone he wasn't really judging the young woman.

"I don't know," Jack replied with a shrug. "Felt good though."

"I'm with Jack here. The guy was a jerk," Kasumi said. "I mean, Maeteris' armor is certainly exotic but it's not clownish."

"Thank you," the Farseer tilted her head slightly towards the thief. "Now, shall we finally proceed?"

In the next room they ran into another group of mercenaries, who once again proved to be of little challenge to Maeteris and her teammates. Garrus, Kasumi and Jacob efficiently dispatched the soldiers and engineers while Maeteris and Jack took care of two Asari biotics.

"Negative contact," Jacob reported once he saw the last of the mercenary group fall.

"I don't think so," Jack told him as she looked at one of the sealed doors. "There are some people inside. More Salarians would be my guess."

"Good, let's get them out," Garrus said and approached the door.

"Careful, one of the Salarians is armed," the Farseer warned him. "And he is rather agitated."

"Eclipse?" The Turian asked her.

"No, I do not think so."

"A scared civilian with a gun then. Great," Garrus said with a sigh. "Stay back, I'll try deal with it."

He opened the door and immediately raised his arms as soon as he saw a Salarian worker pointing gun at him.

"Don't… don't come any closer!" the worker shouted.

"Whoa, calm down, I just want to help," Garrus told the Salarian.

"Stay back. I don't want to hurt you... but I will. I'll do it!" The Salarian was obviously hysterical by now. "Please, stay back, don't make me do it!"

Another Salarian raised his head from behind one of the crates. "Wait, Telon, look! They're not Eclipse!"

Telon, the worker with a gun, looked back at his colleague. "I... you think?"

"I'm certain!" The other Salarian made several nods. "Just look at their armor."

Telon studied the group's armor for a moment. "Maybe... I don't know..."

"He's right, Telon, we're not part of Nassana's mercenaries," Garrus told him calmly. "We already helped several of your colleagues downstairs to leave the building safely, let us help you as well."

"I... I just want to go home," Telon said.

"I'm sure you do, Telon. And you will get home very soon, I promise you," the Turian assured him. "Simply give me your pistol and you and your friends can leave immediately."

Telon looked at his gun briefly and asked. "Uh, why?"

"Because you're a construction worker, Telon, not a soldier. You weren't trained on how to handle a weapon and you might get someone hurt," Garrus explained. "You said it yourself that you don't want to hurt anyone, am I right?"

"Yes," the Salarian replied quietly.

"Please, Telon, give him the gun!" The other worker urged him.

"Um, okay." Telon said and slowly handled his gun to Garrus. "Here, take it."

"You did the right thing, Telon," Garrus told him as he carefully took the pistol and switched the safety on.

The Salarian stepped back and scratched his head as if he had a powerful migraine. "I... don't feel so well." He managed to say before he fainted.

"Telon," the other Salarian shouted and rushed to check on his friend. Garrus also bent down and checked Telon for injuries.

"He is my brother. Is he going to be alright?" Telon's sibling asked.

"I think he's just exhausted from too much worry," the Turian told him when he found no serious injuries. "Give him a few moments."

"Thank you. Were you the one who... shot the merc?" Telon's brother asked.

Garrus looked at the Salarian briefly and then saw what he was referring to - there was a dead Eclipse merc in the room.

"No, it wasn't us. We just got here," Garrus replied. "What happened exactly?"

"I'm not sure, it all happened so fast. We hid here when the shooting started but one of the mercs found us. He shouted at us to leave but we panicked. He shouted more and pointed his gun at us and then his head just... exploded. Telon took the merc's gun but we were too afraid to leave."

"You didn't see the shooter?"

"No. We didn't even hear the gunshot."

"A clean head shot with no collateral damage. And no one heard or saw him." Garrus mused. "Impressive."

"We would not be here if he was an average thug for hire," Maeteris noted.

"True enough," the Turian nodded and addressed Telon's brother. "We need to go. You people should leave as soon as possible; the lower levels are safe and the cargo elevator still works."

"Thank you," the Salarian replied and shook his brother lightly. "Telon, can you stand? We're leaving."

Telon's eyes opened slowly. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes, Telon, we're going home." His brother replied and helped Telon to get up.

In a few moments, the rest of the Salarian workers left the room and went towards the elevator.

"Nice work in handling the whole thing with the Salarian, Garrus." Jacob said. "This could have gotten really ugly."

"Yeah, you never know when your C-sec negotiator training might prove useful." Garrus said with a sigh of relief. "Right, we should be close to that bridge. Let's move out."

They went towards the stairs that would have taken them to the last level of this building, but before they managed to reach them a loud shouting from one of the terminals attracted their attention.

"Can someone give me a report?" an angry feminine voice demanded. "What is going on down there?"

"That's Nassana," Garrus said but was immediately shushed by Kasumi. After that, the thief quietly crept towards the terminal and after a small pause she pressed the reply button.

"Help! They are slaughtering us!" Kasumi screamed theatrically. Then she let out a blood chilling shriek and immediately switched the terminal off.

After a brief awkward pause the team burst with laughter, Maeteris included.

"I wish I could see her face right now!" Kasumi managed to say between the fits of laughter.

"I'll be very surprised if she didn't jump out of the window by now," Jack said as she approached the thief. "That was pretty cool. You're alright, Kasumi."

"Thank you, I do believe I am," Kasumi said. Both women raised an arm and then slapped each other's palms, which Maeteris believed was a sign of camaraderie.

"Alright, let's go before this whole mission gets more ridiculous than it is already," Garrus said as he went up the stairs.

"Hey! It gets the job done, isn't it?" Kasumi asked rhetorically as the rest of the team followed the Turian.

They finally reached the last level and just like the Salarian workers have said it was not finished and most of the walls were out. Through the gaps they were able to see the other tower and the bridge that led to it. A group of Eclipse mercenaries gathered at the edge of the bridge.

"Forget about the explosives, he has already passed us," an Asari shouted, a group leader judging by her tone.

"Explosives? That can't be good," Jacob noted.

"They probably intend to blow the bridge and cut us off from the other side," Garrus said as he prepared his sniper rifle. "And we can't let them do that. Prepare to engage on my signal."

The Turian took aim and shot one of the Eclipse sappers.

"The other group is behind us!" One of the mercs shouted. "Run!"

"Turn back and fight, cowards!" the group leader shouted and used her biotics to hurl her retreating men back to the fight. It didn't help her much because the dazed mercs immediately became easy targets for Maeteris' companions.

Maeteris once again used telekinesis to throw a heavy crate at the enemy leader but to her surprise the Asari managed to evade the Farseer's attack by turning herself into a biotic projectile and swiftly moving to a different location.

"_Neat trick_," Maeteris thought to herself. It was somewhat similar to the teleportation devices of the Warp Spiders although it was not near instantaneous as the Warp Spiders were.

Content with her observations of this new biotic ability, Maeteris returned to the task of dealing with the mercenary leader by hurling another crate at her. Just like the last time, the Asari managed to avoid the attack. Slightly annoyed by her target's elusiveness, Maeteris prepared to cast a lightning bolt.

She never had a chance to use it because as soon as the Asari merc reappeared for the second time, a seemingly random flying crate slammed into her with great force. The merc died instantly and her broken body fell limply to the ground. Maeteris was about to ask who threw that crate but Jack's triumphant hoot gave Farseer the answer prematurely.

"You shouldn't think so loudly, bitch!" Jack shouted. "Man, I'm really getting good at this, am I not?"

"It was not bad," Maeteris replied simply. Jack indeed seemed to be naturally talented with both telepathy and divination to a certain extent but the Farseer had a feeling that her main talent is yet to manifest itself.

"Not bad? Not bad?! That was fucking impressive!" Jack protested.

Maeteris sighed and simply went towards the bridge without uttering a word.

"Um, Maeteris, I think I remember you saying something about missile launchers," Kasumi said as they approached the edge of the bridge.

"That I did," the Farseer replied, staring at the contrails of a pair of incoming turret fired missiles.

"Crap. Take cover!" Garrus shouted.

Once again, Maeteris ignored his warning. Instead, she extended her arms towards the two swiftly approaching projectiles and reached out with her mind. It took a good deal of concentration but Maeteris managed to grasp the missiles. And then, with a little additional effort, the Farseer forced the missiles to turn around, despite the protests of their guidance systems.

In a moment, the two launchers disappeared in fiery explosions, destroyed by the very missiles they had fired. Now, all that stood between the team and their objective was a single barricade manned by a handful of mercenaries.

Maeteris lowered her arms and looked at Jack. "No matter what your achievements are, Jack, always know that you still have much to learn."

The human rose from her cover and looked at the pillars of smoke that rose from the remnants of the two destroyed guns. Then she spoke. "You know, I think I'm gonna agree with our Imperial boy scout - you're a showoff."

Maeteris could only sigh heavily to that.

Jack on the other hand simply grinned and then dashed forward all of a sudden. "Last one to the other side is a pussy!" She shouted.

"Jack, wait! Ugh, what did I do to deserve this?" Garrus asked no one in particular.

"I will handle it. Just follow us and do what you do best," Maeteris said and immediately dashed after Jack.

Using her psychic abilities, the Farseer overtook Jack with ease. And since she moved with increased spread, the mercenaries had trouble aiming at her and the few successful shots that actually hit Maeteris were easily deflected by her barriers. As soon as Maeteris reached the end of the bridge, she surprised the mercs for one last time by easily vaulting over their barricade.

Mid-flight, Maeteris unsheathed her sword and as she landed the Eldar used her momentum to strike one of the mercenaries. The man died instantly as the powerful strike sheared him almost in half. Maeteris immediately flipped her blade around and delivered a backward strike at the female merc behind her. The blade pierced the woman's heart and one of the lungs. Maeteris twisted the sword a little and wrenched it out as she turned to face the third mercenary, a Salarian.

The Salarian almost managed to draw a bead on Maeteris' helmet but not before she sliced his head off at the neck. That left Maeteris one on one against the last merc, an Asari and an experienced one judging by her aura. Experienced though she might have been, it would do her little good. The life of even an Asari was nothing by comparison to the Eldar and Maeteris was a mistress of melee.

The Asari seemed to realize that she should try to keep the Farseer at bay, unleashing a biotic shockwave at the Eldar. Maeteris reacted quickly, somersaulting twice to her left. Then she dashed towards the walls, jumping at it and then pushing off of it with her legs to propel herself towards the Asari mercenary. While still in the air, Maeteris swung her blade and allowed her momentum to do the rest. The tip of her sword easily pierced the merc's armor and went right into her heart.

The Asari stared blankly at the shimmering blade impaled in her chest and managed to ask. "What are you?.." before she slowly sagged to the ground.

Maeteris wrenched her sword out of Asari's body, cleaning the blade of blood with a practiced flick before sheathing it. The sound of footsteps behind her told her that Jack and the rest of the team finally made their way across the bridge.

"Okay, that was cheating!" Jack said while panting slightly.

"Cheating? That would have been cheating if you bothered to set up the rules for this… challenge," Maeteris countered. "As far as I remember, the only rule was the victory conditions. What was it? Last one to the other side is a…"

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny," Jack waved at her, obviously annoyed that she was beaten but not willing to accept it.

"God, I think I'm gonna be sick," Maeteris hear Kasumi mutter.

"Why? What's wrong?" Jacob asked as he approached the woman. Then he saw what she was looking at. "Oh. Ok, Kasumi, just breathe deeply and think about something else." The man said as he gently led Kasumi away from the corpses of dead mercs.

"What's there?" Jack asked curiously and went to take a look herself. "Shi-i-i-it, look guys, she sliced that dude almost in half!"

"You're not helping, Jack!" Jacob shouted at her.

"Oh, look! A severed head!" Jack continued. "We should get back to the ship and place it on a wall in the mess hall!"

"Jack, that's enough," Garrus said sternly as he approached the woman.

Of course it was too late for Kasumi as Maeteris heard the woman throw up.

"Happy now?" The Turian asked Jack and went to check on Kasumi.

Kasumi coughed several times then took a piece of cloth from one of her pockets and wiped her mouth. "Give me a few seconds, guys." She said hoarsely.

Then she went back to the bridge and looked at the vista around her. Maeteris watched as Kasumi began doing a strange series of graceful movements which looked like some kind of martial art relaxation exercise. And they obviously helped because Maeteris felt Kasumi's heart rate and anxiety started to drop down.

Kasumi ended her exercise with a deep sigh and clapped her hands once. "Okay, done!" She said in her usual cheerful tone.

"Whoa, you know kung fu or something?" Jack asked her.

"Or something," Kasumi replied without a hint of bitterness in her voice. She approached Garrus and Jacob and added. "Sorry about the delay, Garrus. Let's go."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jacob asked her, his voice filled with concern.

"I'm good, seriously," Kasumi nodded.

"Well, in that case let's not keep Nassana waiting," Garrus said and then went towards the last elevator.

As they began their ascent to Nassana's penthouse, Maeteris turned to speak to Kasumi.

"I feel guilty for making you feel unwell, Kasumi. For that, I offer my sincerest apologies."

She meant every word of that. Ever since Maeteris arrived to this dimension, Kasumi was one of the few people who tried to do their best to make Farseer feel welcome, despite being a complete stranger. In time, Maeteris would gladly call this human her friend.

"Seriously, Maeteris, it was nothing. Thing is, I'm usually not so squeamish but I suppose I was just caught off guard back there," Kasumi mused. "So, there's really no need for apologies."

"I am glad to hear that." Maeteris said with a slight bow.

They rode in silence for several more seconds until the elevator's VI announced that the group finally reached their destination.

They entered the penthouse, guns at the ready however there was no resistance. The apartment was dimly lit and looked empty.

"Trap?" Garrus asked as he carefully scanned the hallway before them.

"No, it seems that we have dealt with most of the mercs. The last ones finally realized that guns will not help them," Maeteris replied. "They have gathered in the room at the end of this corridor - three mercenaries and Nassana Dantius herself."

"And Thane?"

Maeteris looked at the ceiling. "Trust me, he is around."

Garrus nodded and lowered his rifle a little. "Well, in that case it's time to meet an old friend of mine. Let's go."

They entered the room and just like Maeteris have said, on the other side of the room behind a large table there were three Eclipse mercenaries gathered around an Asari dressed in an expensive gown. One of the mercs pointed a gun at them while others searched for other threats.

"So, you finally got here," Nassana said as she turned away from a large window and faced the group. She looked at them for a moment before recognition dawned on her face. "Wait, I know you. You're that Turian, Garrus Vakarian. One of Spectre Shepard former flunkies."

"Spirits, you actually remember my name. I feel honored, I really do. Usually I'm just 'Hey, you're that Turian, right? One of Shepard's crew!'," Garrus said sarcastically. "And it's not 'former flunky'. I got my position back recently so now I'm one Shepard's 'current flunkies', thank you very much."

"What the hell are you talking about? Shepard is dead." Nassana argued.

"She got better," the Turian replied with a shrug.

"Is that so? And what, she sent you to kill me?" Nassana asked. "Is this about what happened with my sister two years ago?"

"Not everything is about you, Nassana. Honestly, we're here because we're looking for someone."

"You expect me to believe that after you annihilated my security?" Nassana was obviously starting to lose her temper. Then she spotted Maeteris. "And who the hell is she?"

Maeteris didn't bother giving a reply. Garrus looked at her and decided to stay silent as well.

"Hey, are you deaf? I am talking to you!" Nassana shouted.

Maeteris remained silent.

"Aren't you going to blast her with lightning or something?" Jack asked casually.

"Why should I bother? In a few moments she would not matter anymore," Maeteris replied.

"What was that supposed to mean?" the Asari demanded.

Maeteris simply started counting. "In three, two, one…"

As soon as she finished counting a dark shape fell from the ceiling behind one of the mercs. The shape then grabbed the closest merc and snapped his neck. In one fluid motion it closed the distance with a second merc and used him as a living shield against the last mercenary. The third mercenary, an Asari, hesitated for a moment and it cost her life as assassin shot her in the head. Then he snapped the second's merc neck as well.

It all happened so quickly that Nassana only had time to grab her weapon and turn around with a startled "What?". The assassin grabbed her armed hand and twisted it so that the barrel of Nassana's pistol was pointed at her own stomach. Nassana instinctively pulled the trigger and shot herself.

The assassin gently lowered the mortally wounded Asari on the table and closed her arms over her chest. Nassana let out several struggled gasps and then went still.

"Nice entrance," Jack said.

The Drell assassin seemed to be ignoring their presence completely as he clasped his hands together and lowered his head.

"Anyone knows what is he doing?" Garrus asked quietly.

"I am probably the last person you should ask about Drell cultural traditions but I can speculate that he is praying," Maeteris replied.

"Praying? For them?" Garrus asked as he tilted his head towards Nassana and her dead guards. "I don't think they're worthy of it."

"Perhaps he is not praying for them?" Maeteris countered. "Let us be civil and allow him to finish his rites."

"I see no harm in that," Garrus said and started waiting.

It didn't take long for the Drell to finish his prayers. He then looked at the team briefly.

"I thank you for your patience and understanding," Drell said with a slight bow.

"No problem," Garrus said. "There is something that we wanted to discuss with you."

"Yes, you went to great lengths to meet me in person," Thane said as he slowly walked around the table in order to get closer to Garrus. "Well, here I am."

"Good, but first I want to know how much of our conversation with Nassana did you hear?" Garrus asked him.

"Enough to know who you are and whom you represent," Thane replied. "Although I must admit that you diminish your own popularity, Garrus Vakarian. After the Battle of the Citadel, several fan sites appeared that are dedicated solely to you."

"Please, don't remind me of that," Garrus muttered, obviously embarrassed. "In any case, we were sent here by Spectre Shepard to offer you a job. She is gathering a team for a very dangerous mission and she needs the best of the best. For obvious reasons, that list includes you."

"Interesting," Thane mused. "And the reason why Spectre Shepard didn't come here personally?"

"I assure you that she meant no disrespect," Garrus replied. "She's merely busy trying to recruit another individual here on Illium - an Asari Justicar."

"I see. It seems that Shepard is indeed looking for the most capable," Thane said. "I would like to know some details about the mission, if you're allowed to discuss them, of course."

"I am. Have you ever heard about the Collectors?"

"I'm aware of their reputation." The Drell replied simply.

"The Collectors are abducting entire human colonies in the Terminus Systems," Garrus continued. "We intend to stop them for good."

"I see," Thane turned around and stared at the large window for a brief moment. Then he looked over his shoulder and said. "Attacking the Collectors' homeworld would require passage through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from that trip."

Garrus shrugged. "They told us that getting to Ilos was also impossible."

"Yes, you've built quite a reputation on doing the impossible," the assassin nodded. "A suicide mission. Yes, a suicide mission would do." He added quietly, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Well, I wouldn't be so fatalistic if I were you," Kasumi said suddenly and looked at Maeteris. "Trust me when I say that our chances are much bigger than they were a couple of weeks ago."

Thane turned around and also looked at the Farseer. "Yes, you do seem to have gathered a very powerful team. And one of you is not even on the list of known alien species."

"Yes, I think my choice of armor and my skills were a dead giveaway," Maeteris said.

"They were but it wasn't just that. You're too slightly built to be either human or Asari or Batarian. Your stance and your posture speak of great experience; each one of your movements is carefully measured and weighted. Even the oldest Asari Matriarchs will be hard pressed to match you." the Drell explained.

"Very astute observation. Indeed, I am neither of the species you mentioned. I am proud to be part of the people who call themselves the Eldar."

"It's strange that I haven't heard about your people before. The appearance of a new sapient species would have attracted a lot of attention." Thane noted.

"A story for another time, perhaps." Maeteris said.

"Fair enough," the Drell returned his attention to Garrus. "I'm interested in your offer, Garrus Vakarian, and I'm ready to see Spectre Shepard in order to discuss the final details of our possible partnership."

"Good, good, let's get back to the Normandy then," Garrus said and turned to leave Nassana's penthouse.

As they approached the elevator, Maeteris decided that it was time to reveal the main reason why she decided to join today's mission.

"I must warn that even though Thane Krios is already among us, our trials for today are not over," the Farseer announced to everyone. "We have one more encounter ahead of us."

Garrus immediately turned back. "What do you mean? Where?"

"At least some part of our stalkers will decide that idle observations are not enough," Maeteris replied. "They will try to ambush us not far away from where we left our transport."

"I like the sound of the word 'try'," Garrus smirked. "I take it that you already have a plan in mind?"

Maeteris smiled inside her helmet. "As a matter of fact, I do."

* * *

><p>Agent Murat patiently waited behind cover for his quarry to arrive. As an agent of the Shadow Broker, he learned to expect incredibly strange and complicated assignments but when he received today's briefing Murat had to accept that there were still things that could surprise him.<p>

He was tasked with a kidnapping of a never seen before alien, who somehow managed to slip into inhabited space without attracting much attention. At first, Murat expected this new alien to be something weird like a giant insect or a large formless ball of goo. He was a bit disappointed when he learned that the alien was a humanoid but when he saw the few photos of this "Eldar", as Shadow Broker called her, Murat immediately became very curious. Or at least the man in Murat became very curious.

Even though the few photos that seemed to have been taken by some random bystanders showed only part of her face and despite the fact that the alien was hooded most of the time, it was apparent that these Eldar were extremely similar physically to humans. And this particular alien was also hot, smoldering even. A bit thin, in Murat's opinion, but she had curves in all the right places. "_It seems like the Asari are about to meet a worthy rival._" Murat thought to himself.

For some reason, the Shadow Broker insisted that Murat used all his available resources to ambush and capture the Eldar because he believed her to be extremely dangerous. Murat ignored the warning. This wasn't his kidnapping and it was never a question of the amount of men you needed to capture one person. You just had to choose the right tactics.

Of course, after seeing the Eldar fight, Murat had to accept that the Shadow Broker was right about one thing - the Eldar was indeed very dangerous. Most of her abilities were unnatural to say the least. Nevertheless, Murat was still certain that he didn't need more manpower because he never intended to do this the hard way, especially after seeing some of the Eldar's other acts. The way she healed that Salarian worker made Murat think that this Eldar thought herself to be some sort of noble hero. And that was something he could exploit. If Murat's plan works out, he will manage to capture the Eldar without firing a single shot.

And of course, there was a backup plan - the Shadow Broker ordered that should capture of the Eldar prove to be absolutely impossible, Murat had to eliminate the Eldar by any means possible. For that reason he had a sniper with a Krysae sniper rifle watching the place of ambush from a good vantage point. This Eldar may be very powerful but Murat doubted that her fancy armor would stop a bullet from a Krysae.

"They're coming," came the quiet report from one of Murat's men. "They seem to be relaxed. I don't think they suspect anything."

"Good. Get ready," Murat replied.

He carefully leaned from behind his cover and immediately saw the group marching right into his ambush, the alien at their front. This will be easier than he thought it would be.

Murat had to immediately rethink his last conclusion because the group abruptly stopped.

"You may finally reveal yourself," the alien said, sounding as if she was bored to death. "That is unless you need more time to muster your courage."

Murat cursed under his breath. How did she know they were here? And more importantly, if she knew about the ambush why she still walked right into it? She didn't consider them a threat or what?

Maybe he should have listened to Shadow Broker after all.

"Orders?" Murat's sniper asked quietly over the com.

Murat considered his options. Maybe he was over thinking it all and the Eldar didn't know about the ambush and simply spotted them at the last moment? And now she simply was trying to talk her way out of it. Yes, that was probably the case.

"Wait for my signal." Murat ordered as he decided to stick to the original plan with a little improvisation. Stepped out of his hiding spot and approached the Eldar while slowly applauding her.

"Well done! Well done. I must say I thought we were well hidden but something obviously gave us away," Murat said in a cheerful tone. "What was it, if that is not a big secret?"

"If you have something to say, human, say it or get out of the way." The alien replied sharply.

"Human, hm? Now that is a curious choice of words for someone who only yesterday did her best to look like humans, wouldn't you agree?" Murat asked.

"My patience is wearing thin," the Eldar said simply. Curiously enough, the rest of her team watched the exchange with a complete lack of interest.

"Fair enough, I see that you're a person who likes to get straight to the point," Murat said and crossed his arms. "Before we start, I want you to know that I'm aware of who you are – an Eldar, member of the alien species no one has ever seen or heard before, so there's really no reason to deny..."

"And you are an agent of the Shadow Broker," the Eldar interrupted him. "Now, get to the point of why you are trying to ambush us."

Murat did his best not to show his surprise. How did she know he was working for the Shadow Broker? Was there a mole in Broker's network?

It looked like there was more to this Eldar than he initially thought. Murat gathered his thoughts and continued.

"I wouldn't call it an ambush really. Just a precaution. And since you seem to know who my current employer is then I shall be brief – the Shadow Broker became very interested in you once he learned of your existence. He sent me to offer you a..."

"Lies," the Eldar interrupted him again.

"W-what? No, I assure you. I'm only here to deliver an offer..." Murat stuttered.

"Lies, again," the alien repeated herself in a condescending tone. "You consider yourself a good liar but you are not. So stop before it gets embarrassing."

"_How the hell she knows that I'm lying? Is she a telepath or something?_" Murat thought and then realized that he was dealing with a complete unknown here. Maybe these eldar were actually psychics or something. If that was the case, his initial plan was fucked. It was time to try a different approach.

Murat quickly drew his pistol and pointed it at Eldar. This was the signal his men were waiting for as they jumped out of their cover and surrounded the Eldar and her team.

"I really didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice," Murat told the Eldar. "You're coming with us, alien or else..."

"What, you are going to shoot me?" The Eldar asked him.

"You? No," Murat replied and pointed his gun at one of the Eldar's companions, a hooded woman. "But one of your friends might get hurt."

Then Murat once again noticed that the Eldar's friends weren't reacting at the situation around them. They just stared at him passively. Even the hooded woman Murat held at gunpoint.

Something was definitely off.

Murat heard as the alien in front of him sighed heavily and started to talk. "Look, human, you have no idea whom you are dealing with but I shall forgive your ignorance this time. Leave now and neither you nor your men will be harmed."

What was that supposed to mean? This eldar was in no position to make demands. It was Murat and his people who held her at gunpoint, not the other way around.

"This is all a bluff, it has to be!" Murat thought to himself.

"Last warning, Eldar. Surrender or..."

"Shoot. I dare you," the Eldar told him.

If she thought that he didn't have the guts to do it then she was dead wrong. Murat squeezed the trigger, his gun barked loudly and... Nothing happened. There was no scream of pain, the hooded woman Murat just shot in the thigh did not fall to the ground. She didn't even blink.

Then there was a flash and the hooded woman disappeared and in her place Murat saw a small floating rune similar to those that were floating around the Eldar.

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?" The alien asked him and though Murat could not see her face he was certain that she was smiling.

Then to Murat's dread the rest of the Eldar's companions disappeared in the same matter, each one of them replaced by identical rune.

Decoys. They were all decoys. But if they were a fake, where were the real ones?

As if to answer his question, the Eldar's friends jumped out of their hiding places and rushed Murat's bewildered men, catching them completely by surprise. In a few moments Murat's team was completely disarmed and subdued.

Murat no longer knew what to do. He briefly thought about ordering his sniper to open fire but in the back of his mind he knew that the accursed Eldar probably thought about that as well. He looked at the alien but then he realized three very terrible things.

First. The Eldar was no longer in front of him.

Second. Someone managed to slice off the better part of his pistol without his notice.

And third. Something very sharp was pressed against his throat.

"As I already said - you have no idea of whom you are dealing with," Murat heard the Eldar say and this time her voice came from his right. How did she manage to get there so quickly without his notice? Was she one of those biotics who can freely jump around?

Of one thing Murat was certain - he really should have listened to Shadow Broker's advice.

The only thing he could do right now is to try and talk his way out of this mess. He dropped the useless remains of his gun and slowly raised his hands up.

"Ok, Eldar, you've won this one. Now let's be civil about it and..."

"Silence, human. You are really trying my patience," the Eldar told him and Murat hissed as he felt her blade press a bit stronger on his throat. "I ought to slay you where you stand but, fortunately for you and your men, my accomplices would not look kindly at a slaughter of unarmed people. So instead we are going to let you and your men go and you shall deliver a message to your master."

"Fair enough, what's the message?" Murat asked.

He felt as the Eldar leaned closer to him. "That if the Shadow Broker doesn't change his allegiance, the day we meet will be the day that he dies."

"It's not very healthy to threaten the Shadow Broker," Murat warned.

The Eldar started to laugh and her laughter was equally melodic and blood-chilling. "Fool. Know that I'm not just any Eldar. I am a Farseer. I do not threaten. I divine the future."

"_What does she mean by that? That she can see the future? But that's impossible!_" Murat thought to himself. Of course, it would have explained how she found out about this ambush but... No, that was not possible; he was simply being tricked...

"You have a very limited perception of the universe, yet you seem to be awfully sure about what is possible and what is not," the Eldar told him suddenly. Wait, did he say all that out loud?

Murat shuddered as he realized that he didn't and the Eldar once again proved that she was capable of reading his thoughts. Just how exactly he was supposed to capture someone like her?

"Now, run along, human. You have things to do and places to be," the alien said and he felt as she removed her blade from his throat.

Not willing to test his luck any longer, Murat turned around and ran, not bothering to check if his team was following him. Judging by the clatter of footsteps, they were not far behind him. Murat knew that Shadow Broker didn't look kindly at failure but whatever Murat's boss might do to him it certainly couldn't be worse than what this weird, sword-wielding, lightning-throwing, quick-moving, mind-reading, fortune-telling alien could do.

* * *

><p>Maeteris watched as the last one of the Shadow Broker's minions disappeared from sight and then turned around to face her accomplices, just in time to see Garrus arrive. He was the one who dealt with the enemy sniper and was now carrying a new weapon, most likely taken from the aforementioned sniper.<p>

"Remind me to send a thank you card to the Shadow Broker," Garrus said as he patted his weapon. "I've been itching to get my hands on a Krysae for some time."

"Krysae? Never heard of it," Jacob said as he approached to look at the new gun.

"And for good reason. It's one of the Hierarchy's newest developments. Only Turian Special Forces carry these. Figures the Shadow Broker managed to get his hands on these," Garrus said ruefully. "Anyway, that worked out well, you should have seen the sniper's surprise when I took his weapon from him. I have only one question, Maeteris - how did you managed to get so close to their leader. It all happened so fast that I didn't notice."

"I did," Thane said simply and looked at Maeteris. "You just shifted your position in a blink of an eye. You also managed to sever part of your adversary's pistol in the process. An impressive skill, is it something similar to a biotic charge?"

"No, I did not teleport myself. It was an incantation called the Time Shift," Maeteris explained. "Essentially, for a brief moment I can put myself outside of normal flow of time."

Her team stared at her as if she suddenly grew a second head. "What?"

"Are you saying that you... stopped the time?" Kasumi asked her.

"No, of course not. It is a bit more complicated than that," Maeteris tried to explain. "You see, I did not alter the general flow of time, it is impossible. As I said, I placed myself outside of the normal time flow which actually made me faster to a point where everything around me stands still."

Judging by the expressions of her listeners, they were not getting what the difference was.

Maeteris sighed. "Yes, I suppose I did stop the time in a sense."

"This is going to be my weirdest debriefing. Good thing I'm not working in C-Sec anymore and I don't need to write an official report." Garrus shook his head. "Let's get back to the Normandy."

They boarded their small shuttle, after checking it for any nasty surprises the Shadow Broker's agents might have left for them. As soon as they took off, Maeteris leaned back in her chair with a content sigh. The Time Shift actually tired her, not to a point of exhaustion but still, it was a rather complex spell.

"So... Was it true?" Kasumi asked her suddenly.

"That depends on what you mean," Maeteris replied.

"You know, what you said about the Shadow Broker," the woman elaborated. "That he is going to die if he doesn't change his allegiance."

"Who knows? He or she or they are not going to die in the nearby future, of that we can be certain. My foresight allows me to glance only into the events of the next day, maybe a couple of days at most. Of course, the Shadow Broker does not need to know that."

"I hear you," Kasumi grinned.

"Is it really such a common thing among your people - the foresight of the future?" Thane asked.

"No, only those who tread the Path of Seer can learn to see the skeins of destiny," Maeteris replied.

"Fascinating," the Drell said and leaned forward in his seat. "And your predictions, how accurate are they?"

"It varies but short term predictions can be very accurate," Maeteris replied. "Just like they were with that pathetic attempt of an ambush we saw before."

"That's how we beat the Collectors on Horizon," Garrus added. "We managed to get there before the attack and mounted one hell of a defense. Even with numbers on their side, the Collectors were forced to retreat."

"Amazing," the Drell said quietly. "I pity those who would decide to attack your people, Farseer Maeteris."

This brought back painful memories and Maeteris turned to look at the view outside. "Yet sometimes even foresight is simply not enough."

An awkward silence settled, only to be interrupted by a beeping sound coming from Garrus' omni-tool.

"Shepard is hailing me," the Turian said and opened his com channel. "Garrus here. Go ahead, Shepard."

He briefly listened to her speech and his expression became more and more worried. "What happened? Do you need..." Garrus tried to ask. "Got it. The funny thing is that I was about to tell you the same thing... Yes, we picked up Thane, he has agreed to meet you, and we were on our way back when the Shadow Broker's goons tried to ambush us... Yeah, it appears that he tried to kidnap Maeteris for some reason. No, we're fine, we have Maeteris, remember? We didn't even have to kill anyone... Sure, I'll tell you everything once we get back. See you on the Normandy, Garrus out."

"What happened?" Jacob asked the Turian as soon as later ended the call.

"Some mercs ambushed Shepard and the rest of the group moments after they recruited the Justicar. I don't know the whole story, only that Gallardi was shot, although Victoria says that it's nothing serious."

"Was he?" Maeteris asked, a bit surprised by this development.

"Yes. You knew this was going to happen?" Garrus asked.

"I believe I already told you that divination is not a precise craft. Sometimes there are many possibilities of how a certain event might happen. At times like this it largely depends on the choices some individuals make," Maeteris replied.

She then once again turned to look at the cab's window. Maeteris was indeed aware of the choice Gallardi had to make, but to be perfectly honest, even though his attitude towards aliens changed, she didn't expect him to risk his own life to an alien, a complete stranger no less. It appears that she was wrong.

Maeteris sighed lightly – humans were equally frustrating and fascinating beings. Most of the time they were blindly predictable but they always found a way to surprise her.

* * *

><p><em>A short time later...<em>

**Location: Illium, Normandy SR-2, Communications room.**

"Well, there you have it, Justicar," Shepard said as she finished telling her the story of Captain Gallardi and Farseer Maeteris. "I know how all this sounds but it's the truth. I hope it also explains the Captain's attitude towards all alien species."

Despite hearing such an unbelievable story, the old Asari remained absolutely serene. "Spectre Shepard, I have lived for a very long time and I have seen many wondrous and unusual things. Yet your story easily eclipses all that."

"I understand but-"

"Do you believe those two people, Spectre?" Samara asked.

"Yes, yes I do," Victoria replied. "It is too unlikely to be a scam."

Samara nodded and turned to face Miranda, who was also present. "What about you, officer Lawson?"

"I was skeptical at first but I agree with Shepard," Miranda replied. "It is simply too unlikely to be a fabrication. They have advanced weapons, far too advanced in some cases. Not to mention that the Farseer's almost godlike powers."

"I assume that the same can be said about the rest of your team?"

"Yes," Shepard nodded.

"If that is the case I see no reason to doubt these two individuals, as unlikely as their stories are," Samara concluded. "Unless someone presents a compelling evidence of them lying to you all this time. I must say that I am rather intrigued to hear more about this 'different' dimension."

"You missed a couple of stories but we'll try to bring you up to speed," Victoria smiled. "Also, our second team along with the Farseer should arrive soon. You'll finally meet her in person."

Samara simply nodded. "There is one last issue I wish to discuss – the Reapers. If I am not mistaken, the official judgment on the matter says that these Reapers were nothing more than a fabrication of the rogue Spectre Saren."

"The official 'judgment' is false, the Reapers do exist," Victoria said. "My arguments were dismissed simply because the truth was too improbable. I don't mean anything by it but you weren't there, Justicar. If you were with us two years ago, you would have agreed with me, I'm certain of it."

"Perhaps," Samara said simply and turned to Miranda once again. "What about your organization, officer Lawson. Do you support Shepard's claims?"

"Absolutely," Miranda replied. "We managed to acquire several pieces of the Sovereign, the Reaper that was destroyed during the battle for the Citadel and after extensive research all of our scientists came to a conclusion that no known sapient race is capable of creating something as sophisticated as Sovereign."

"Have you shared this knowledge with others?" Samara asked.

"They didn't believe Spectre Shepard. Why would they believe us? I'm sure that you're aware of our reputation,"

"Indeed," Samara nodded.

"Let's not forget that Farseer Maeteris also proved that the existence of the Reapers when she learned about the fate of her species in this dimension." Shepard added.

"Yes, you already mentioned that," Samara agreed. "However, we only have her word-"

"That is not entirely true," Miranda interrupted. "We know that as a psyker, Farseer Maeteris is capable of sharing her memories with others. In fact, she has already shared the vision about her people with another person. An Asari Spectre named Tela Vasir."

"I see. That changes things to a certain degree," Samara said thoughtfully.

"I'm sure that Maeteris might share the vision with you, if wish," Victoria suggested.

"That is an interesting option, yes," Samara nodded. "You have given me much food for the thought. I will need time to think everything through."

"Of course," Victoria said, glad that Samara was at willing to think about the Reaper threat and didn't dismiss it outright.

Shepard was about to ask where Samara would have liked to settle on the Normandy but the suddenly Joker started talking through the ship's PA.

"Hey, Commander. Garrus is back with the rest of the gang. Should I let them in?"

"Yes, tell them that we're waiting in the Com room."

Less than a minute later, the door to the Com room opened and the second team marched in.

"Hello everyone." Garrus was the first one to speak. He then pointed at the Drell assassin, who quietly stood in one of the room's corners. "Shepard, this Thane Krios. Krios, this is Spectre Victoria Shepard."

Victoria rose from her seat and nodded to Thane. "Welcome to the Normandy, Mr. Krios. Thank you for agreeing to meet me."

"It is my pleasure, Spectre," Thane bowed slightly.

Shepard in turn waved at Samara. "Everyone, I want you to meet our newest recruit, Justicar Samara."

The Asari also stood up. "Greetings."

"Justicar, this is Garrus Vakarian, Jacob Taylor, Kasumi Goto, Jack and, of course, Farseer Maeteris of the Craftworld Ulthwe."

As on cue, Maeteris finally took off her helmet. Samara slowly approached the Eldar and stopped in front of her.

The atmosphere in the room became still as two very old and very powerful beings studied each other.

"I am honored to meet you, Farseer Maeteris. Spectre Shepard spoke very highly of you," Samara bowed her head slightly. "She also told me of a terrible fate that befell your kin in our dimension. For what it is worth, you have my condolences."

The Farseer was silent as she continued to study the Justicar. "Your words are welcome, Justicar Samara. It is good to finally meet a more... mature and disciplined member of your species. So far I mostly dealt with younger Asari and it was not a very pleasant experience. I, of course, understand that it is a common behavior among your young and I meant no offense to your people in general."

"No offense taken. I do agree that Maidens can be... a bit untoward, to say the least." Samara replied diplomatically.

"In that case I shall look forward to our future conversations. I feel that we have much to discuss. For now, you will have to excuse me but I was a little tired by the events of this day and I wish to retire." Maeteris said and looked at Victoria. "Unless my presence is required for this debriefing."

"No, I'm sure the others will be able to fill me in on the details." Shepard replied. "I only wish to thank you for your help today."

"It was my pleasure. I shall take my leave then," Maeteris bowed slightly and left the room.

"How interesting. Despite her similarity to humans, I have no doubt that she belongs to a different species," Samara mused. "She has a certain unique aura, unlike anything I have ever seen before."

"It's the whole psyker thing. You guys have it too," Jack said.

"I am sorry, I do not quite follow you," Samara looked at her.

"The psychic potential. Ask the Eldar about it, she would probably explain better me," the woman shrugged. "Anyway, since I see that you guys have everything under control so I'm gonna bail. You know where to find me."

With that, Jack also left the Com room.

Samara turned to Shepard. "That woman, she has a-"

"A unique aura? That's Jack. She is human but it turns out that she is psyker as well. A latent psyker, to be precise," Victoria replied with a smile. "You really should ask the Farseer about the whole psyker thing, she knows about it more than we do."

"I see. Thank you for your advice, Shepard."

"Well, since we're done with introductions we should decide where you could stay. There are several empty crew cabins on the Crew deck. You can pick the one you like."

"Thank you, this day has been full of surprises. A place where I can meditate in tranquility on these events is welcome," Samara said.

"Jacob, please show the Justicar to where the cabins are," Victoria told and immediately added. "Also, once you're done, head back to the armory, Gallardi is probably there and he might need your help."

"We heard he has been shot. How is he?" Jacob asked.

"He's better. Doctor Chakwas already released him from the Med bay." Miranda replied for Victoria.

"However, his armor and weapon were damaged," Shepard added. "See what you can do to help him."

"Will do, Shepard," Jacob nodded. He waved Samara to follow him and soon both of them left. However Victoria noticed that Jacob gave Thane an odd look before he exited the room. Shepard dismissed it for now because she was finally free to turn her full attention on her last potential recruit.

"Sorry for making you wait, Mr. Krios." She told him apologetically.

"It wasn't a trouble." The Drell replied.

"I assume that Garrus briefed you on the details of our mission?"

"Yes, and I have already made my decision," Thane said. "I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."

Victoria paused, unsure what to make of that. "That's... A bit unexpected, actually. I mean, people of your profession usually get paid. Especially if it's a high risk assignment like ours. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but why no charge?"

Thane looked thoughtful for a moment. "The assassination of Nassana Dantius was to be my last job. I'm dying, Spectre Shepard. The low survival odds do not concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

"Dying?" his answer took Victoria by surprise. She looked at her XO. "Miranda, did I miss something from his dossier?"

Miranda also looked surprised as she started typing on her terminal. "No, there wasn't anything about that." She then looked at the Drell. "Is it a disease of some sort? You're certainly not old enough to die of natural causes."

"It is a disease, yes," Thane nodded. "Before you ask however – no, the disease is not contagious. And it will not affect my performance."

"But if you're dying, wouldn't you want to spend what time you have left in the company of friends or family?" Victoria asked.

"I'm an assassin, Spectre Shepard. I have done many bad things in my past," Thane replied. "The universe is a dark place and now I wish to make it brighter before I die."

He paused for a moment. "Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough and they suffered. I wish to atone for that and I'm grateful to you for offering me this opportunity."

Victoria looked at Garrus and Miranda for their opinion. Garrus nodded while Miranda simply shrugged. Shepard made her decision and approached the Drell assassin.

"In that case welcome to our team, Thane Krios," she said and offered her hand.

"Thank you," the assassin shook her hand. "Where shall I put my things? I would prefer some place dry, if there are any available."

EDI suddenly appeared on the briefing table. "The area around life-support systems are usually more arid than the rest of the ship."

"Ah, thank you," Thane nodded at her avatar and looked at Victoria. "An AI?"

"Yeah," Shepard smiled. "EDI, tell Kelly to escort Mr. Krios to the life-support systems."

"You will find Kelly Chambers right next to the main elevator, Mr. Krios," EDI informed.

Thane bowed slightly and left the room.

"He seems quite civil," EDI noted and disappeared.

"Ok, now you guys," Victoria clapped her hands and turned to Garrus and Kasumi. "You said you were ambushed by the Shadow Broker. Also, Thane mentioned Nassana Dantius and that a lot of innocents died today. So, start from the very beginning."

Garrus and Kasumi described their adventures in great detail although their story sounded more like a recollection of the amazing things Maeteris could do.

"Ok, stop," Shepard raised her hand. "Did you just say 'stopped the time'?"

"Well, as Maeteris said, she didn't really stop the time. She said the general time flow was unaffected, she 'simply' placed herself outside of the normal time flow." Kasumi tried to explain. "Although if you wish to use the plain English then yes, she stopped the time."

"Right, is there no limit to what that woman can do?" Victoria wondered. "So, how did it all end?"

"We let them go and Maeteris told their leader to pass a message to Shadow broker that if he will not stop being bad, he's going to die," Garrus said. "She said it was a bluff but we can never be sure, right?"

"Well, if it forces the Shadow Broker to remove the bounty from my head then it's fine by me," Shepard said. "Ok guys, we're done here. Go get some rest, you all deserved it."

She returned to her own cabin and finally took off her armor and went to take a shower. Once she was done she put on a clean change of uniform and went to check her terminal. Right now there weren't any messages from the Illusive Man about the Collectors which meant that Shepard and her crew were on standby for a time. Having nothing to do, Shepard decided to go and see Garrus and Tali and ask them about the Thanix cannon.

However as she left her room she noticed Kasumi standing next to the elevator's door.

"Hey Shepard," the thief greeted her cheerfully.

"Her Kasumi. What's up?"

"The ceiling is up, despite my attempts to change that," Kasumi replied.

"It must be frustrating," Shepard said with a chuckle.

"Tell me about it. Anyway, I'm here to ask for a small favor."

"What, another heist?"

"No." Kasumi sighed and continued. "Look, it's about Jacob. He's been a bit withdrawn ever since we came back. Something's bothering him."

"You think?" Victoria asked and remembered how Jacob looked at Thane during the debriefing. "Maybe it has something to do with Krios. There seems to some kind of tension between them."

"No, I don't think so. I mean yes, he doesn't seem to like Thane for some reason. Maybe because he doesn't like mercs in general and he thinks that an assassin is just another type of mercenary, I don't know," the thief shrugged. "What I do know is that he is worried by something personal. And he learned about it only recently. Also, Kelly agrees with me, it was she who told me to go to you."

"If it's something personal then aren't you the best person to ask him about it?"

Kasumi bit her lip a little. "Yeah well, I'm not sure if I reached the level where I can ask about personal things."

Victoria chuckled. "What, you think I reached that level?"

"Nah, he's not your type. On the other hand, you're his commanding officer so he'll talk to you if you order him. Seriously though, it really bothers him and in our line of work that is not a good thing."

"Okay, I see your point, Kasumi," Victoria nodded.

They used the elevator to reach the Combat deck and as soon as they left it, Kelly approached them.

"Shepard, I see that Kasumi is with you. You should really-"

Victoria raised her hands. "Yes, yes, I'm going to talk with Taylor."

"Oh, good!" Kelly smiled broadly.

"Thanks, Victoria! You're the best! Okay, girls. I'll see you around." Kasumi said and switched on her cloak.

"Kasumi," Victoria shook her head and went towards the armory.

She opened the doors and immediately spotted both Jacob and Gallardi standing near the workbenches. The Captain was reassembling his lasgun while Jacob welded shut holes in Gallardi's armor.

"Well, you're a bit wrong there Taylor," Gallardi said as he fixed the gun's casing in place. He looked at Victoria and gave her a brief nod before continuing. "Assassin is a set of skills, a military qualification, if you please. It doesn't make him a merc. The fact that he killed his targets for money does."

"You know any assassins who don't get paid for their kills?" Jacob asked him. He looked up from his work and also nodded to Victoria. "Shepard."

"I knew at least one," Gallardi shrugged. "I mean, sure, Sahi was paid for her service to the Inquisition but I'm sure that she never cared about money. She believed that killing the enemies of the Imperium was her sacred duty to the Emperor. And she was one of many sanctioned assassins in the Imperium."

"Okay, but my point still stands – do you think that it was smart to allow him to join our crew?"

"I see that you're concerned about our latest recruit, Jacob," Shepard said.

"I am. After all that happened today, us getting ambushed by mercs and all, do you think it's safe to let the hired killer join our team?"

"Well, as it turns out, Thane is not your average thug for hire," Victoria replied and told him about the terms on which Krios joined the Normandy's crew.

"U-huh, right," Jacob said and crossed his arms. "Forgive me if I say bullshit to that."

"Maybe, but if you remember, we have a good bullshit detector called Maeteris," Shepard pointed out. "If he meant us harm I'm sure she would have noticed something by now."

Jacob looked thoughtful for a moment and then simply shrugged. "Maybe you're right."

"He's not what I expected from an assassin," Victoria added. "He may surprise you."

"Yeah, and he may not." Jacob said and returned to his work.

"An alien assassin who seeks redemption," Gallardi mused aloud. "Now that is something I didn't hear before."

"I guess we all learn something new every day," Victoria said.

"You can say that again." Gallardi said as he finished assembling his gun.

"So, Jacob," Victoria said as she approached the man. "Word around the ship says that something is bothering you ever since you came back from the mission. And it's not just our new resident assassin."

Jacob was silent for a moment as she continued fixing one of the holes on Gallardi's breastplate. Once he was done he looked up at Shepard. "Kasumi put you up to this?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny her involvement in this," Victoria smiled. "But you just confirmed the rumors. So come on, Jacob. Spill it."

The man sighed and turned to look at the armory's window. "Well, it's a personal matter and I'm not sure if can spend time looking into it but... Well, you could say that I got pinged by a ghost. Family."

"I'm listening," Shepard urged him to continue.

"Once I got back, I saw that my personal log was updated about the status of the _Hugo Gersnback,_ the ship my father served on. It sent an SOS, reporting the crash and requesting rescue. Shepard, that ship went missing ten years ago. I'm not sure it's just some automated distress beacon kicking in. It's been too long."

"You're right, ten years is one hell of a delay."

"Maybe the distress beacon was damaged and the survivors managed to get it to work only now?" Gallardi suggested.

"No, the distress beacons are built to survive the total destruction of the ship. If it was damaged it, it would have been broken for good." Victoria shook her head. "Jacob's right, something doesn't add up."

Victoria turned back to Jacob. "So, you want to investigate it?"

"If we have time to spare," Jacob replied. "I'm sure that the Alliance also picked up the distress signal but it will take time for them to get there. We can get there faster."

"We do have time to spare. And the possible survivors might need help," Victoria said. "Okay, Jacob, give us the coordinates."

"I appreciate it, Shepard. Personally, I don't expect to find anything but dusty bones but it would be good to close the record." Jacob said and used his terminal to send the coordinates to navigation.

"We'll see. EDI, get me Joker,"

"Affirmative." The AI replied.

"New orders, Commander?" Joker asked over the PA.

"Yes, are we ready to dust off?" Shepard asked.

"Just say the word and we're off this planet."

"Then bring her up. We're going to dock with a supply station first and pick up some supplies. After we're headed to Alpha Draconis System in Rosetta Nebula."

"Roger that, I'm going to... What the hell? Hey, cut it out! Scat!"

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Joker?"

"There's a cat outside and it is scratching my ship's paint job!" Joker shouted.

"Okay Joker, take a deep breath and start making sense." Victoria said calmly.

"There is an unidentified feline scratching the outer airlock's door," EDI replied instead.

"It's a freaking huge cat, like a tiger or mountain lion, I don't know!" Joker was almost shrieking right now.

"It is neither. The animal does not match any known species of the_ Felidae _family." EDI reported.

"Then what is-" Victoria tried to ask.

"Open the airlock!" came the voice of Maeteris. Unlike Joker and EDI, the voice didn't come from PA but rather like it came from inside Victoria's head.

"Bloody Eldar, can you stop doing that?" Gallardi shouted. It seems that he had heard her as well.

"Okay, I don't know if you hear me, Maeteris but do you know what is going on?" Victoria asked.

"Please, open the airlock! I am coming up!" Maeteris said once again.

"Fine, let's go see what this is all about." Shepard said and picked up a pistol from her locker. Gallardi and Jacob followed the suit.

The three of them left the armory and Victoria immediately bumped into Kelly.

"Shepard?" the yeoman was obviously very confused.

"I assume everyone on the ship heard that?" Shepard asked and upon receiving several nods she raised her voice a little. "Alright people, everyone is to remain at their station. We'll handle it."

They reached the airlock and checked their weapons.

"Talk to me, EDI," Shepard said.

"The feline is still outside."

"Okay, let it in."

"Opening the outer airlock. The animal stepped in. Closing the outer airlock. Decontamination in progress." The AI reported.

Victoria heard the main elevator opened and turned to see Maeteris running towards them. She was already in one of her civilian dresses but she looked odd. Odd because Maeteris was grinning like it was her birthday and she just received the best present ever.

"What's going on?" Gallardi was the first to ask her.

"It's a Gyrinx!" Maeteris replied.

"What? Where did it come from?" the Captain asked her, his surprise evident.

"I do not know! Is it not exciting?" Maeteris asked.

"What is exciting?" Victoria asked them.

"A Gyrinx!" Gallardi and Maeteris replied in unison.

"Okay, now with respect to those of us who are not dimensional travelers – what's a Gyrinx?" Shepard queried.

As if to answer her question the inner airlock doors opened and Victoria almost melted inside when she saw a very big and possibly the most majestic cat she had ever seen.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Okay, guys. I know that it's been a while, right?.. Guys?<em>

_*Crickets*_

_O-o-okay. I guess I earned that for making such a long delay._

_Anyway, I hope that you like the new chapter. I want to thank my beta readers yuzah, Major Richard Sharpe and Todeswind for greatly improving the original quality of the chapter._

_And yes, M'tarr is a Gyrinx, for those of you who haven't figured it out already. I know that I've made them a bit more intellingent than canon says. However, there is very little lore about them so I've decided to be a bit more creative._

_Now, for those of you who know about Gyrinxes, I have a small homework for you. I want to ask you to post possible reactions to M'tarrs presence from Normandy's crew. The entire crew including Kelly, Chakwass, Gardner, Keneth and Gaddy. Really good ones might be added to the next chapter._

_That will be all for now. Oh and I'm aware that there were some questions from guest reviewers. I'll add the answers later._


	19. Politics and cats from outer space

_Author's Note: Several month ago I started attending programming courses, so now I have no free time whatsoever (I usually get home somewhere around 11:00 PM), so do not expect fast updates in the near future._

_Also, my country is in turmoil right now, which is not a very inspiring thing._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19: Politics and cats from outer space.<strong>

**Location: Illium, Normandy SR-2, main airlock.**

Maeteris looked at the wonderful creature before her as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Not the least of which was how she managed to miss such an important event in her divinations of the future.

Perhaps Maeteris had been too focused on the two ambushes, not bothering to look beyond the safety of her charges. The Farseer chastised herself for such unprofessional behavior. She would have to do better in the future.

Nonetheless she did not waste much time in self admonition, the Gyrinx took precedent. Was it native to this dimension? Or was it brought to this dimension by a twist of fate just like Maeteris and Captain Gallardi were? And if it was, did it come alone or was it someone's companion? Perhaps it was bound to one of her kin – unlikely as that seemed.

She shook her head. No, the universe was never that kind.

The Farseer took a small step towards the creature, freezing as it immediately backed away. Tiny tufts of fur quivered in anticipation as Maeteris felt the Gyrinx' confusion and fear. With sadness Maeteris realized that her suspicions were correct - this particular Gyrinx was not familiar with the Eldar.

Most likely it was a wild local Gyrinx.

Not that the creatures presence was any less magnificent for its inexperience with her kind, it was still a Gyrinx! If Maeteris were centuries younger, she would likely been bouncing in excitement. She, like many of her people, dreamt of getting a Gyrinx companion. It was the hope of all Eldar children.

Maeteris knew that she needed to calm the scared Gyrinx down, to show him or her that she didn't pose any threat. Slowly, she lowered herself to one knee and touched the floor with her hands. It was well known that Gyrinxes were a bit more at ease with those who stood on four legs instead of two.

Seemingly mollified by her actions, the Gryinx took deliberate, inching steps towards Maeteris. The Farseer felt a caress of telepathic intuition. The creature was probing her. Maeteris suppressed the urge to reach out with her own mind, hesitant to agitate the already frightened Gyrinx.

The contact had to be initiated by the Gyrinx. Trust had to be established between them. It was in control of this situation – not her.

Maeteris lowered her head to make sure that the creature could reach her. According to Rangers and Exodites, Gyrinx touched each other's foreheads as a way of greeting. It was a show of mutual respect.

The creature stopped a short inches from Maeteris, leaning closer to sniff her. Its clever eyes examined her in keen interest, recognizing the meaning of her actions.

Letting out a sniff of air from its nostrils in apparent approbation of her scent, the creature paused before leaning in to tap the Farseer's brow. Maeteris felt the feline's subtle telepathic touch as it entered the welcoming embrace of her thoughts. She saw flashes of the Gyrinx's memories, echoes of bestial majesty. Maeteris immersed herself in the being's memories, quickly adjusting herself to the language of a feline psyche.

Once she felt that she was ready, the Farseer gently ended their connection and looked at the Gyrinx. The creature, a female as Maeteris found out, backed away a little and looked slightly scared of Maeteris. It was understandable - she was most likely the most powerful telepath it had ever encountered.

"Do not be alarmed. No one means you any harm here," Maeteris willed to the creature.

"M'tarr... M'tarr understands you," the Gyrinx replied. The curious feline lilt of her telepathic reply was more curious than frightened.

"I am glad to hear that, M'tarr. I am Farseer Maeteris of the people who are known as the Eldar," Maeteris said. "I'm honored to meet you, M'tarr the hunter. I have long wished to know one of your kind."

M'tarr looked surprised. "Farseer Maeteris knows of M'tarr's people?"

"In a manner of sorts. Where I came from, we call your people the Gyrinx, which means 'Those who tread softly', and both your and my peoples were friends for a very long time."

M'tarr tilted her head slightly, obviously very confused. "M'tarr does not understand. M'tarr never heard of the Eldar."

Maeteris allowed herself a wry smile, "It is a bit difficult to explain. Do you know about Aether, a place where spirits and other incorporeal beings exist?"

"Farseer Maeteris speaks of the Plane of the Spirits?" M'tarr asked.

"If that is how you like to call it, yes." Maeteris replied. "You see, deep within the Plane of the Spirits exists another material world, very similar to this one but also a bit different. I came from that place and in that world, both mine and yours people exist and we have coexisted in peace and harmony for a long time."

"M'tarr is curious! Tell M'tarr more!" the Gyrinx cocked up her ears and sat down closer to Maeteris, eager to hear more about the distant dimension.

Maeteris smiled. "I will be delighted to. But tell me, how did you get here? You are far away from the World of the Hunters."

M'tarr flattened her ears and lowered her head a little, as if she was ashamed of what she was about to tell. "M'tarr was careless. She was tricked and taken from Moarheff against her will."

Maeteris reached the Gyrinx with her hand and gently stroke her head. "I am sorry to hear that. Tell me what happened, perhaps I will be able to help."

* * *

><p>Shepard knew that she probably looked silly because of the huge grin plastered on her face but she couldn't help it. The sight of Maeteris sitting in front of this "Gyrinx" was simply too adorable. She even giggled when those two bumped each other's foreheads.<p>

As Shepard studied the cute animal closer, she began to understand why EDI failed to identify the Gyrinx. First, Joker overstated the size of the animal - it wasn't as big as a tiger or a mountain lion. It was the size of an adult lynx. As a matter of fact, it looked very much like a lynx as well - its fur had a similar orange color, and it had the characteristic tufts of hair on the tips of its ears.

There were differences, however - the Gyrinx' fur was a bit longer and where lynx had a short tail, the Gyrinx had a long bushy tail almost as long as the animal itself.

But the most notable difference was the creature's eyes - instead of the natural gray, green or yellow they were bright blue.

Both Maeteris and the animal continued to look at each other as if they were having a silent conversation. Victoria turned to Gallardi and quietly asked. "Do you know what is going on?"

Gallardi shrugged. "They are probably talking about something."

"Talking?" Shepard asked, surprised that her guess was correct. "You mean Maeteris can talk to animals?"

"Animals?" Gallardi looked at her. "Oh, right, you don't know. You see, the Gyrinx are... well, the Imperial science is still conflicted about them - some think that they're simply very intelligent animals while others believe that the Gyrinx are very primitive sapient xenos. What we know for certain is that they are psychic species and other psykers can communicate with them."

"Are you saying that you guys have a race of alien magic space cats? Why didn't you mention them before?" Victoria asked.

"Because they aren't exactly an alien race as you understand it. They are very rare," Gallardi replied. "In fact, this is the second Gyrinx I have ever seen and that would probably mean that I've seen a lot of Gyrinxes if compared to the rest of the citizens of the Imperium."

"When did you see the first one?" Shepard asked him.

"A couple of years ago, when I was still in the Guard," the Captain said. "During one of the briefings, our ship's Chief Astropath was present and he had a Gyrinx... Well, I don't think the term 'pet' is correct here but anyway, there was a white Gyrinx following him around. At first I thought it was just an animal, but when I looked at it during briefing I couldn't shake the feeling that it understood everything that was discussed during the briefing. Hell, it was probably smarter than some of the officers present there."

"Amazing. Do you think it came here the same way you did?"

"I guess this is what the Farseer is trying to find out. It could be local though."

"How? Surely we would have heard about them."

"It's just a thought, let's wait for Maeteris to figure it out."

They continued to look at the Eldar and the Gyrinx while Jacob activated his omni-tool. "Kas, you need to get to the main airlock right now, there is something you need to see."

"Ugh, way to ruin my stealth." Kasumi said as she de-cloaked a couple of meters away from them. She quickly approached them and looked at the object of everyone's attention. "What do you have here- Aw, Neko-chan!"

* * *

><p>"It makes me sad that you had to go through all that." Maeteris said once M'tarr finished telling her story. It appeared that M'tarr was kidnapped from her homeworld by the Batarians, or 'the four-eyed bipeds' as M'tarr called them. Four eyes or not, the Batarians were still too blind to see that M'tarr was not a simple animal and it looked like they have kidnapped her in order to sell M'tarr as an exotic pet.<p>

M'tarr was bought by an Asari, or "the Dull one". Judging by the nickname, the Gyrinx sensed the Asari meager psychic abilities. Unfortunately, it was still not enough for M'tarr and her Asari "owner" to establish a contact. Even though the Asari treated M'tarr much better than the Batarian poachers, she still treated her as an animal. Thus, M'tarr had to escape as soon as an opportunity presented itself. The rest of the time she spent prowling the streets of Nos Astra, dodging the authorities and looking for some way to get home.

"M'tarr can only blame herself," the Gyrinx said flatly. "But now M'tarr has finally found Farseer Maeteris. Farseer Maeteris has tamed the giant metal bird. Will she help M'tarr to get home? M'tarr misses the Moarheff."

By the 'giant metal bird' M'tarr most likely meant the Normandy. "I will do everything I can, M'tarr. However, you should know that the 'giant metal bird' is not mine to command." Maeteris tilted her head towards Shepard. "It belongs to the human, the not Gifted, Commander Victoria Shepard."

M'tarr looked at Shepard. "The not Gifted managed to tame the great bird?"

"The great metal birds are called starships, they are made artificially and they obey every command of those who made them. They do not need to be tamed." Maeteris explained. "Also, do not be fooled by the fact that Commander Shepard lacks the Gift you and I share. She is intelligent, strong and cunning - a very skillful hunter."

M'tarr flattened her ears. "M'tarr meant no disrespect." She was obviously ashamed of her earlier remark. "M'tarr is still not used to the not Gifted being as smart as the Hunters."

"It is understandable," Maeteris said with a nod.

"But how can M'tarr ask the Commander Shepard for help? M'tarr cannot speak with the not Gifted."

"I can speak and understand their language." The Farseer said. "Borrow what you need – I share it willingly."

M'tarr waved her tail in excitement. "M'tarr is grateful!"

Maeteris turned back to look at the humans gathered behind her and noticed that Kasumi joined the group. She and Shepard was now excitedly discussing the Gyrinx.

"A race of psychic space kitties?" Kasumi almost squealed with delight. "Why? Why only Jack gets to be a psyker and not me?"

"I know, it's not fair." Shepard agreed.

"Commander Shepard, can we have a word with you?" Victoria heard the Farseer ask and saw that both the Eldar and the Gyrinx were now looking at her.

"Uh, sure." Victoria said and carefully approached the two. She bent one knee just like Maeteris and sat down. "Um, hi there." Shepard greeted the Gyrinx with a wave of the hand.

To her utter astonishment, the Gyrinx meowed and raised one of her front paws, as if it tried to mimic Victoria's greeting.

"Did it just copy my movement?" Shepard asked Maeteris.

"That she did. During her stay on Illium, M'tarr learned that waving one's paw is a form of greeting among the Asari and humans." Maeteris said with a smile.

"M'tarr?"

"That is her name," Maeteris explained. "As you already know M'tarr is what we call Gyrinx. Mind you it is a name my people have given them, they simply call themselves 'The Hunters'."

"I take it's because they love to hunt?" Victoria asked.

"It is a bit more than that, but I will tell you later, if you wish. M'tarr wants to ask you for a favor, Commander Shepard."

"I was never asked for a favor by a space cat. I mean, by a Gyrinx. Sorry, I'm rambling. What kind of favor?"

"M'tarr was taken from her planet against her will by the species you call Batarians. Of course, in their blindness they failed to realize that M'tarr is intelligent and so they sold her as an exotic pet to some Asari here on Illium," the Farseer said. "M'tarr managed to escape her captivity and now seeks a way to get home. Before you ask, yes, M'tarr is native to this dimension."

"Then how come we've never heard about them?" Victoria asked.

"I am not sure, but I can speculate that the Gyrinx homeworld was discovered only recently - the spaceship that the Batarians used was the first one the Gyrinx have seen." Maeteris replied.

"Well, that's actually possible. And if that is indeed the case, their first contact happened with the Batarian pirates." Shepard said and suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. "Oh my God, we need to tell this to the Council. Or at least try to warn the Batarians. If they were the first to find the Gyrinx and they think that they are just animals, there's no telling what they are doing with them right now. Do you know where the Gyrinx homeworld is?"

"Yes, I know the location of Morheff." Maeteris nodded.

"Moarheff?" Shepard asked.

"Moarheff!" said the strange purring voice and it took Victoria a moment to realize that the voice came from M'tarr.

"Am I imagining things or she really said the name of her homeworld." Shepard asked uncertainly.

"That she did."

"I thought the Gyrinx communicated with telepathy."

"They are, for the most part. But they still have physical language." The Farseer explained. "The vocal part is very limited and is used mostly for names of people and places. The rest of it is body language – the stance, movements of ears, head and tail always have a certain meaning."

"This is so cute!" Victoria heard Kasumi say in her native language.

"I wonder if they could make a translator for Gyrinx language. I mean, we have a translator for the Hanar and they communicate by the bioluminescence." Victoria said. "Okay, let's go find where the Gyrinx homeworld is."

Both Maeteris and Victoria stood up and went towards the airlock's exit, M'tarr following behind them.

"Hi!" Kasumi said and waved her hand at M'tarr as soon as they got close enough. The Gyrinx paused for a moment and then raised her front paw and meowed at Kasumi. Only this time Victoria realized that it wasn't a simple "meow" because it sounded like "M'tarr". The Gyrinx actually introduced herself.

"It's so fluffy I'm going to die!" Kasumi said and faked losing consciousness as she theatrically fell into the arms of slightly bewildered Jacob.

Victoria saw as M'tarr tilted her head to the right, seemingly confused by Kasumi's reaction.

"She is alright, M'tarr. Don't worry." Victoria said. "Oh wait, you probably don't understand what I'm saying."

"I already told her," Maeteris said. "She is simply confused by Kasumi's actions. I must say that I am at a loss as well."

"It's a human thing. When we see something very adorable or cute we joke that a person can go brain-dead from sheer excitement," Kasumi said as she recovered.

"I see," Maeteris said and turned to Victoria. "Shall we proceed then?"

Shepard nodded and they went towards the CIC. Victoria looked over her shoulder and saw that M'tarr was carefully prowling behind them while occasionally glancing at various crewmen and their flashy terminals. Even though Victoria was certain that the Gyrinx was suffering from an enormous culture shock, she is coping with it rather well.

Thankfully, the Normandy's crew looked either bewildered or fascinated by the presence of a strange creature and nobody was freaking out. The fact that M'tarr was a big fluffy cat and not a giant spider helped a lot.

As they approached the Holo-map Victoria noticed that Kelly was literally bouncing on her spot near the terminal.

"Aww, look at you!" Kelly cooed when she saw M'tarr. "Is it true what EDI said? She is sapient?"

"Looks like she is," Victoria smiled.

At the same time, the elevator doors opened and Miranda, Tali and Garrus entered the Command Deck.

"Shepard, we all heard that-" Miranda said only to stop as soon as she saw as she saw M'tarr. "Is that a lynx? Where did it come from?"

"It's not a lynx, it's a Gyrinx," Victoria said. "See the long tail?"

"Oh, right." Miranda said.

"And before you ask what a Gyrinx is, as Maeteris and Gallardi said, the Gyrinx are primitive sapient creatures from... Well, we were about to find out." Shepard added. "But basically they are big psychic space cats!"

Miranda looked like she was about to say something, but she simply groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "How am I supposed to report that?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't cats are predators on Earth?" Garrus asked as he studied M'tarr.

"Predators?" Tali asked as she slowly edged behind Garrus' back.

"You persist in using that word – cats, when you talk about M'tarr," Maeteris said. "Can someone elaborate what it means?"

"Wait, you don't know what cat is?" Shepard turned to the Farseer.

"Obviously not," Maeteris shrugged.

"Okay, let me show you," Victoria said and approached her terminal. She quickly made an inquiry in Extranet and her terminal showed her a collection of photos of various felines. "Here, take a look. They are carnivorous mammals native to Earth. We have many species, starting from small domestic cats and going right up to huge Siberian tigers. But they are just animals."

Maeteris looked closer at the collection felines displayed on Victoria's terminal. M'tarr also became curious as she rose up on her hind legs and looked at the pictures. Judging by the way she was looking at the pictures, the Gyrinx was very confused. At one point she even tried to touch the holographic screen with her paw, only to have it go right through it.

"Are you certain about them being only animals?" Maeteris asked.

"Well, we always had this joke about cats being the animal invaders-," Kasumi noted.

"But it's only a joke." Victoria interrupted. "Don't get me wrong, cats can be very cunning and some of them can even be trained. But I have never heard of cats, you know, greeting people like M'tarr did."

"I understand," Maeteris said with a nod. "Well, it is not like it is unheard of two species born on different planets to bear similarities with each other."

"True. So, about the... Moarheff, right?"

"Moarheff!" M'tarr said excitedly.

Everyone except those who already heard M'tarr speak before stared at the Gyrinx.

"Did I just hear it say-," Miranda tried to ask.

"Yes, she just said the name of her home planet," Victoria replied.

"Oh, right. Sapient creatures," Miranda said. "Anyone else wonders why Mordin is not here yet?"

As if on cue, the doors to Mordin's labs opened and the Salarian appeared.

"EDI informed about new sapient species on board. Where?" Mordin asked and then noticed the Gyrinx. "A feline. Most likely native to Earth."

He brought up his omni-tool and started scanning. "Hm, strange. Cannot identify the exact species. New species? No, no, Earth' fauna are mostly catalogued, unlikely to have missed such large feline species. Species from a different planet? Not from Illium, no. Illium fauna were catalogued as well. How it ended up on Illium..."

"She was caught by Batarian poachers and sold as a pet animal to some Asari here on Illium." Shepard interrupted Mordin's unstoppable chatter. "That's why your questions will have to wait, Professor. If the Batarians were the first one to discover the Gyrinx homeworld and they think they are just animals to be hunted and killed or sold as exotic pets, well, I'm certain you can imagine where that might lead."

"Certain that they are sapient?" Mordin asked simply.

"Yes, I am certain," Maeteris said. "Now, can I finally use the map to locate planet we need?" She asked Victoria.

"Sure, be my guest." Victoria nodded.

Maeteris approached the map's controls and began her search. To Victoria's surprise, Maeteris didn't choose the Galactic east, where Batarian Hegemony was located. Instead, she zoomed in somewhere within the Citadel space.

"That's not a Batarian territory," Garrus voiced Shepard's thoughts. "And not the Terminus Systems either. How come the Batarians were the first to make contact with the Gyrinx?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Victoria muttered.

Maeteris zoomed in to the level where individual star systems could be seen. "Now, if my memory serves me well, Moarheff should be... here."

She selected one of the systems and then selected the second planet from the sun. An image of a garden world appeared over CIC.

"Moarheff!" The Gyrinx exclaimed and jumped onto the holographic emitter. She stood up on her hind legs as she tried to touch the floating image of the planet.

"Okay, this is just weird. Am I seeing things or it looks like she recognized the orbital image of her homeworld?" Miranda asked incredulously.

"It looks like she did," Maeteris said and Shepard realized that the Farseer was confused as well.

"How? You guys said they're rather primitive," Jacob asked. "You need to launch a rather sophisticated artificial satellite to get quality images of a planet's surface."

"There are other ways of doing it, but those are open only to skilled psykers," Maeteris said. "I am certain that M'tarr can give us an explanation."

Maeteris leaned over the railing and called the Gyrinx. M'tarr looked at the Farseer and once again the two of them began to silently stare at each other, undoubtedly engaged in another telepathic dialog.

After a few moments, M'tarr said a single word. "Martoom."

"Martoom?" Maeteris clarified.

M'tarr replied by joyfully waving her tail several times.

They continued their silent conversation for a few more seconds and then Maeteris nodded and turned back to her audience.

"It is as I thought it was," Maeteris concluded.

"What do you mean? I can guess that 'Martoom' means something, so what is it?" Shepard asked.

"It is a title and it roughly translates as the Spirit Walker," Maeteris explained. "M'tarr said that some of her people are 'less Hunters but more Gifted' which obviously means that these 'Martoom' are frail in body, but at the same time they are more powerful psykers."

"What does it have to do with the image of the planet's surface?" Tali asked.

"Just the fact that powerful psykers can detach their spirits from their bodies and travel to certain distances without concerns about the laws of the material realm." Maeteris replied simply.

"So you're saying that one of these 'Spirit Walkers' simply flew into orbit, looked down and saw that their planet is round?" Garrus asked. "Huh, neat trick."

"Indeed. Also, it seems that Martoom act as teachers of the young as well. When young Gyrinx learn to walk properly, they are taken to one of the Martoom and the latter share some of their accumulated knowledge with the young."

"... Possess the basic knowledge of astronomy. Also, the primitive, but efficient system of organized education." Mordin was muttering to himself as he made notes on his omni-tool. "Oh, and the species are native to-," he looked at the holo-map. "Ah, G45-2184. Very interesting. Explains why Gyrinx were never seen before."

"G45-2184? Can't say that I've heard about this planet." Victoria said as she studied the floating image closer.

"And for good reason," Miranda said. "It was discovered less than a year ago."

"Ah."

"One more thing doesn't make sense - how can the Batarians be the first one to make contact with the Gyrinx? That planet is under Citadel jurisdiction." Garrus said. "In fact, it's still under quarantine."

"No offense, Garrus but it looks like some Turian wasn't doing his job properly." Jacob replied.

Garrus looked like he wanted to argue, but he just grunted. "Yeah, that would be the simplest explanation, wouldn't it?"

Victoria of course had no idea what they were talking. "Guys, a little respect for those who were dead for the last two years. It's obvious that you know quite a bit about this planet. Care to share your knowledge?"

"Well, technically you were in coma at the time, but..." Miranda began, but then she saw the Victoria's glare and stopped. "Right, sorry. We should start from how the planet was found, although it would be more correct to say why this star system wasn't discovered before."

"Okay, you piqued my curiosity," Victoria said. "Please, go on."

"I think Mordin would be a better teller here since his people studied the relay that leads to this system for quite some time."

"Yes, yes, very interesting case!" Mordin said as he approached the holo-map controls when Maeteris stepped aside. Mordin then switched from the detailed view of Moarheff to a star system level. "Note the relay. It is paired with a relay in Halesun system. A system not far from the Gelaere star system, which is a border system of the Salarian Union. As you know, the Halesun system itself has no strategic or commercial value."

He switched to the said system and just like Mordin said - it was an incredibly poor star system. There were only three objects of note - the Mass relay, a deep-space station not far away from it and the star itself.

"Roughly three centuries ago, Union scientists studied the relay for almost two decades, trying to figure out why it was not working." Mordin continued. "It wasn't just dormant, it was completely inactive for no apparent reason. There was no external or internal damage that we could find. On the other hand, we could still register faint traces of energy within the Mass Relay's superstructure, but all efforts to bring the relay online failed. The project was abandoned. The station was mostly decommissioned, except for a few monitoring devices. They even planned to power down the station completely when the Relay suddenly went back online."

"There are many theories as to what might have caused it. Most popular one is that the system's star is the one to blame." Mordin said and zoomed in on the system's star. "Galactically speaking, the star died a short time ago. It's speculated that when the star goes nova the tremendous amount of energy released in the process triggers some kind of defense mechanism within the Mass relay and powers it down. Possibly to protect the users of the Mass relay network from accidentally entering a star system with a supernova. If the star doesn't turn into a black hole then some time later the Relay goes back online. No proof of that, of course, but it's a best hypothesis we have."

"It's as good as any other if you ask me," Victoria said. "So what happened next?"

"An automatic probe was sent to see what's on the other side-" Mordin began.

"Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean 'probe'?" Shepard interrupted him. "What happened with the 'don't activate the dormant Mass Relays' law?"

"Ah, forgot to mention. When Halesun Relay went online it was not dormant, it was already active."

"Which means that technically the law was broken by whoever activated the Relay all that time ago," Garrus added.

"Correct. When the probe returned it revealed that the Relay led to a small cluster with two star systems. The more distant system is not very interesting - a couple of planets with limited colonization potential, two gas giants and an asteroid belt. The primary star system where the Mass Relay is located has drawn much more attention, mainly because of G45-2184. Or Moarheff. It's a class 1 garden world, an ideal planet for colonization."

"That's still doesn't explain how the Batarians got there," Victoria said. "If this system is connected to a Salarian star system, then it makes Moarheff system a Salarian space as well, right?"

"Wrong. Citadel exploration and colonization policies are not that simple." Mordin replied.

He then zoomed out to a star cluster level and then activated a political overlay. It showed that the Gyrinx star cluster was located deep in Citadel Space and it sat on a border crossing of three different states.

"Star cluster located at an equally remote distance from the conventional borders of Salarian Union, Asari Republics and Hanar Illuminated Primacy. Since, technically, Salarian Union did nothing to activate the Halesun Relay-"

"Let me guess - all three of them have equal rights to this star cluster?" Shepard asked.

"Four, if you count the Drell as Hanar client race. As usual, they allowed Hanar to represent them in this matter." Mordin corrected her. "Also correct, ownership of star cluster is still disputed. A Turian patrol fleet was tasked with guarding it until the dispute is resolved. As to the Batarian presence, it's unlikely that the Batarians are citizens of Batarian Hegemony. Gelaere is not a very safe system - lots of smuggling traffic and even occasional pirate raid. Possibly the Batarians are smugglers who somehow slipped past the Turians."

"Or, what is more likely, the Turian commander decided to make an extra credit and then turned a blind eye on the smugglers," Garrus commented, to everyone's surprise because they actually expected him to defend his compatriots. The Turian, sensing the crew's questioning looks, added. "What? If you still believe in the myth about Turian incorruptibility then this is your wake up call."

"Look, no one's trying to say anything about your people, Garrus," Jacob said. "I'm sure that the guy in question is an exception rather than a rule."

"I know but that's not what's important right now." Garrus said. "We need to warn Hierarchy Command before this whole situation gets worse."

"Citadel Council must be warned as well," Mordin suggested.

Victoria nodded. "I'll send a message to Anderson. Hopefully he still trusts me enough to believe in this whole thing."

"What of M'tarr's plight, Commander?" Maeteris finally asked. The Gyrinx in question was sitting next to Farseer with a waiting expression.

Victoria looked at M'tarr and sighed. "Look, I want to help, I really do. But right now we have a more important mission right now, we need to investigate a distress signal of a ship that was lost ten years ago. If there are survivors, they might need urgent help. And besides that, there's always a matter of our main objective. We can get a new lead on the Collectors any moment and we'll need to react immediately."

Maeteris looked at M'tarr and the two conversed briefly. After a moment, M'tarr lowered her head and then looked at Victoria with a heart-melting "sad cat" expression.

"Okay, that's just not fair to use the 'sad cat'," Shepard told the Gyrinx. "The only thing I can offer you is to stay on the Normandy because Farseer Maeteris is probably the only one outside of your people who can understand you."

It looked like Maeteris was giving M'tarr an immediate translation because the Gyrinx immediately lightened up and tapped the floor with her paws.

"As you probably have guessed, M'tarr agrees to your conditions," Maeteris said with a slight smile. "While she does want to get back to her homeworld, she is still rather curious about the world beyond Moarheff."

"Okay, but you gotta tell her that we're not the safest way of exploring the Galaxy," Victoria warned.

"I already did."

"Really? What did she say to that?"

"She said: it shall be quite the hunt." Maeteris replied. Seeing everyone's questioning looks she added. "I will explain later."

Victoria nodded. "Well, it's settled then. Welcome to the Normandy, M'tarr. Now I guess that you'll need some place to stay while you're on board."

As if to answer Victoria's question, M'tarr stepped closer to Maeteris and wrapped her long tail around the Farseer's legs. Maeteris looked down and smiled.

"M'tarr says that she would like to stay somewhere close to me, if neither of us minds," the Farseer said. "I certainly do not."

"I don't see any reason to object," Victoria shook her head and then raised her voice a little to address Joker over the com. "Okay Joker, bring her up. We're done here. Our destination remains unchanged."

"Roger that. Oh, and if our new furry crew member is as smart as you say, tell her that my chair is off limits. I mean that."

"Sure, whatever you say, Joker." Shepard said and then leaned closer to Maeteris. "Can you tell M'tarr that the pilot's chair is really comfortable?" She whispered.

"I heard that," Joker said indignantly, causing several crewmen to chuckle.

A slight tremor went through the Normandy, signaling that the ship disengaged from the docking clamps and was once again airborne. Shepard saw as M'tarr tried to steady herself as she was frantically looking for the source of the tremors. Maeteris bent down and stroked the Gyrinx' head affectionately, muttering soft words in her own language as she tried to calm M'tarr.

"Hey, I want to do that too!" Kelly squealed when she saw it and went towards the Gyrinx. Kasumi was not far behind her.

Shepard watched as the two women cooed over M'tarr and the latter wasn't minding their attention in the slightest. "Well, this is certainly going to be interesting. Right, Gallardi?" Victoria said, certain that the Captain was standing somewhere beside her. When no response came, Victoria turned around only to find out that Gallardi was nowhere near. In fact, he wasn't even present in the room. Victoria found it to be odd - she was certain that seeing this Gyrinx would've excited him a little because she, even indirectly, would have reminded him of home but it looked like Shepard was wrong.

"Maybe he's just tired," Victoria mused and considering how much beating Gallardi received today it wasn't all that unlikely. Hopeful that this was the case, Victoria returned her attention back to the Normandy's newest crew member, who was now purring approvingly while Kelly scratched her behind the ear.

**One day later. Location: Arcturus Station.**

"God damn it, Kelly, what have you got yourself into this time?" Specialist Samantha Traynor muttered as she pondered about her current predicament. For the third time she looked around the small questioning room she was placed in, her gaze briefly stopping on smooth dome on the ceiling where the surveillance camera was hidden.

This day was just getting weirder and weirder by the minute. First weird thing to happen in the morning was an email Samantha received from her longtime friend Kelly Chambers. Well, the fact that Kelly sent her an email was not weird, even though Kelly did disappear for almost a year. The weird part was the contents of the message that made Traynor wonder if Kelly suddenly decided to remember the good old university days and got royally drunk.

In her usual Kelly-esque fashion, Samamtha's friend wrote in great details about tons of fantastic things – existence of parallel dimensions where humanity exists in pan-galactic theocratic Empire called 'The Imperium of Man'. And these humans fight demons. And murderous alien machines. And Space Orks. And Space Elves. And one of the humans from that place was brought against his will to this dimension. One of the Space Elves as well (Kelly called her 'Eldar'). As Samantha was about to stop reading to write an immediate reply that said "Bullshit!" Kelly's email offered pictures a proof.

And that's when the second weird thing happened – Traynor realized that she recognized the "Eldar" woman from the pictures. She was featured in one of the current top-10 on the Extranet as she made an impromptu performance on Illium playing an instrument no one except for the Asari had managed to master. Of course, the rest of the Galaxy thought that the Eldar was an eccentric human.

But it seems that two people from another dimension was not all Kelly encountered recently. The second part of her email contained a brief description of a discovery of a new sapient species called Gyrinx, who turned out to some sort of telepathic cat. At this point Samantha realized that she should probably report this to her superiors. If it was a scam then it was a pretty good one because Traynor was buying it.

And if it wasn't... Well, then the Galaxy just became a much more interesting place.

And that's when the final weird thing happened. When she reported about the email, the officer on duty looked at her oddly and asked to wait for a moment. Several minutes later an MP security detail arrived with an Internal Security officer and arrested Traynor. Without saying what were her charges, the MPs relieved her of all personal items sans the clothing and placed in this questioning cubicle. Since then, Samantha was sitting here and wondering what the bloody hell was going on.

Traynor's musings were interrupted when the door to the interrogation room hissed open and a man in IS uniform stepped in. The man looked at her and smiled. Samantha would have considered the smile to be warm if the man was not Captain Feng.

"Oh God, I'm in deep trouble, am I?" Traynor said as she cradled her head in her arms.

"I don't know, specialist Traynor. Are you in trouble?" Captain Feng asked with a fake surprise.

"I'm not even aware why I'm detained but if you're the one who is going to question me-." Samantha began.

"You're suspected of being in friendly relationship with Kelly Chambers, a woman we know to be a Cerberus agent," Feng interrupted her.

"Ri-i-ight," Samantha raised an eyebrow to that. "And His Holiness the Pope preaches Voodoo."

Feng looked surprised by her answer. "You don't think that Kelly Chambers can work for Cerberus?"

"Like I said: saying that Kelly works for Cerberus is like saying that the Pope preaches something he really shouldn't."

"Maybe you didn't know her as well as you think you did?" Feng suggested.

"Yes, sir. I'm pretty sure the two Asari girlfriends Kelly once had had known her much better," Samantha said. "You know, mind meld and all that."

"Huh, now that is interesting. Very well, Specialist Traynor, let's start from the beginning. Judging by the contents of the email you received, Kelly Chambers was your long term acquaintance," Feng said as he started to make notes in his datapad. "When did you first met?"

"University of Oxford. We both studied there and we rented an apartment together. You know, to share the rent payments." Samantha replied quickly.

"So, it is safe to assume that you know each other quite well," Feng said. "How would you describe her, in a few words?"

"Very intelligent, open, kind, sociable, generous, loyal. Natural at reading people, and I don't just mean humans."

"Those are very admirable traits," Feng said as he made additional notes. "She sounds like a good person."

"Yes, she is a great friend."

"Certainly. Was she just a friend or there was a more personal connection between the two of you?" Captain Feng asked.

"Talk about being blunt," Samantha couldn't help but blurt out. "Sir." She added hastily.

Feng looked at her with a devilish smirk. "Judging by your blush, the answer to my question is yes."

"Servicemen don't blush, they heat their cheeks." Samantha replied quickly.

Captain Feng chuckled and added more notes. "So, after University your relationship-"

"There was no real relationship, sir. A fling, yes, but for the most part we were just great friends." Traynor decided that it was no use to try and hide anything. "And after college our paths divided - I joined the Alliance while Kelly went to Citadel to study the xenopsychology further. She was always fascinated by the aliens."

"An odd trait for someone who works for Cerberus," Feng muttered to himself.

"Sir, I'm telling you, there is some sort of mistake. She can't be working for them," Traynor said. "Kelly always had a lot of friends among aliens. I can never imagine her hurting anyone of them."

"You read the email, didn't you?" Feng asked her. "She said it herself that is part of the Spectre Shepard's crew."

"Yes, but... Wait, you mean those rumors that Commander Shepard works for Cerberus are true?"

"Let's just say it's a little more complicated." Feng replied. "Tel me, when was the last time you saw Kelly Chambers?"

"Roughly a year ago, when she told me that she just got a position in Daimner Consulting Group-"

"And that's the connection we're looking for," Feng declared suddenly.

"Sir?" Samantha asked uncertainly.

"This, of course, doesn't leave this room, but the Daimner Consulting Group is one of the Cerberus false fronts." Feng said.

"Oh. I was not aware of that."

"You weren't supposed to. We found out about it only a couple of months ago." Feng added a few more notes and after a pause he continued. "Specialist Samantha Traynor, I pleased to inform you that I did not find enough evidence to mark you as a person of concern and a possible enemy infiltrator. Hopefully it will stay that way. For now, you're cleared of all charges and you're clear to return to your duties."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Samantha said and stood up. "If I may ask, sir, what about the information Kelly Chambers provided? About the Gyrinx, the Eldar and other stuff? I know it sounds crazy-"

"The intelligence about the Gyrinx will be cleared soon enough. Staff Commander Shepard also sent a report about it. Looks like the Turians once again fucked up another first contact," Feng said with a certain satisfaction. "As for the rest of it... I take it you have recognized the Eldar woman from the photo?"

"Hard not to recognize the woman from the most popular video clip on the Extranet," Samantha said.

"The information is inconclusive for now." Feng said simply.

"So… I shouldn't tell in any social network that 'Yes, this woman is indeed a new kind of alien', right?" Traynor asked and seeing Feng's disapproving look she immediately corrected herself. "Stupid question, I apologize, sir."

"That will be all, Specialist Traynor. You are free to return to your duties." Fend said as he stood up.

"You can receive your personal items outside."

Traynor also stood up and saluted him. She quickly left the room and as she retrieved her belongings she wondered what she should be worried about most: the fact that her friend is now working for Cerberus, the fact that she was one of the new people who knew about a mysterious race of aliens, possibly from another dimension or the fact that she already found the only known member of the said alien species to be very hot.

Captain Feng once again looked at the picture from the email sent by Kelly Chambers and shook his head. Third alien species this year, and this time they were some kind of magical cats. As if he and the rest of Internal Security didn't have enough to deal with right now.

However, to be perfectly honest, Captain Feng didn't really mind this kind of additional workload. After six years of rather tedious assignments, things were finally getting rather interesting. Systems Alliance became aware of entirely new kinds of threat – psychic powers. Rumor has it that an entirely new department was about to be created in both the Internal security, the Fleet Intelligence and Research and Development that will be aimed at studies and defense against these strange and unknown powers. If this was true, Feng knew he would be among the first who will ask to be transferred to this new department. He was always interested in arcane things.

He looked at his watches and cursed under his breath – he was already late for the emergency meeting of the general staff. Well, an emergency meeting was not a right word, it was simply unplanned but nevertheless all senior officers of the Systems Alliance military will be present.

Feng rushed to the staff room, making last notes in his reports. As he entered the meeting room he was relieved to see that the meeting hasn't begun yet, even though almost everyone was present, including Feng's CO, General Gregory Hornblower, Chief of Systems Alliance Internal Security.

"Ah, Feng. You've made it," Hornblower said as he noticed his subordinate. The General sat right next to Admiral Hackett. "Did you manage to question Specialist Traynor?"

"Yes, sir, it's all in my report," Feng said as he passed his datapad to the General.

"Give me the gist of it, lad," Hornblower said as he skimmed through the report.

"Specialist Traynor was never aware of Miss Chamber's involvement with Cerberus and I'm inclined to believe her," Feng said. "They are rather good friends but I don't think that we can use this connection in any way."

"How so?" Hornblower asked without looking at him.

"Judging by Traynor's opinion of Kelly Chambers, the woman is hardly a Cerberus material – has a lot of alien friends and has never shown any human supremacist traits. I suspect that she was recruited by Cerberus shortly after she got a position in the Daimner Consulting Group. That was roughly a year ago. It is safe to assume that Kelly Chambers was recruited to be one of the 'friendly faces' in the crew of the new Normandy to make Staff Commander Shepard feel more welcome among Cerberus."

"Just like Joker and Dr. Chakwas." Hackett nodded.

"Precisely, sir." Feng agreed.

"The Illusive Man really thought of everything." Hornblower said and closed the report.

The doors to the staff room opened again and the last few participants finally arrived – Admiral Ines Lindholm, Commander of the First Fleet, Admiral Nitesh Singh, Commander of the Third Fleet, and Pr. Hummel.

"Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen," Admiral Lindholm said as she took her seat.

"Well, since everyone is here then let's begin. We have much to discuss," Hackett said as soon as everyone took their seats. "First I shall start with things that don't directly affect us."

With that the large screen behind him switched on and showed the image of the "Gyrinx" sent by Shepard. Of course, the image of what was essentially a very large fluffy cat caused the only reaction one could expect – everyone present in the room chuckled.

"I think you placed the wrong photo, sir," Admiral Kemal Reis, Commander of Second Fleet, said with a grin.

"I think it's cute," Admiral Lindholm said innocently.

"That was my reaction at first, but it turns out there is no mistake." Hackett said and waived his hand at the screen. "Ladies and gentlemen, Staff Commander Shepard reports that she came into contact with a new sapient species called the 'Gyrinx'. The one you see on screen is known by the name M'tarr."

Everyone, except those who already saw Shepard's report, simply stared at Hackett with blank stares.

"I shit you not, people. Essentially, the Gyrinx are sapient cats from the planet we know as G45-2184 or as the Gyrinx themselves call it…" Hackett paused and looked through his notes. "Moarheff."

"G45-2184, isn't that the planet that was discovered behind that Relay that came online a year ago?" Hummel asked as he used his terminal to dig up the relevant data.

"That's the one," Hackett replied.

"I though they scanned the planed and didn't find any signs of advanced civilization." Admiral Sheila Jameson, Commander of the Seventh Fleet, asked. "And isn't there a Turian patrol fleet guarding that sector?"

"They aren't advanced in any way. Shepard's report indicates that they are rather primitive." General Nori Kenshin, Chief of Systems Alliance Intelligence, replied. "The only notable thing about them is that they are communicating through telepathy and may have other psychic abilities."

The last part immediately attracted the attention of Hummel. "Another psychic race? This is excellent! We should study them as soon as possible."

"All in due time, professor. Right now this matter is in the hands of Citadel Council, Councilor Anderson also received a copy of this report. You can study the report later, it contains the details on how Commander Shepard encountered these Gyrinx. For now, let's get to more important issues." Hackett said and looked to next spokesperson. "General Kenshin, Professor Hummel, you're up."

"Thank you, sir." Kenshin said with a nod. "I think that it's best if Professor Hummel begins."

"Ja, danke." The elderly scientist said and cleared his throat. "Admirals and Generals, some of you already know this, but for those who do not, the Systems Alliance R&D recently acquired certain very powerful technologies and is now in the process of trying to reverse engineer them for our use. The said technologies include: advanced laser weaponry and high yield energy storage devices, plasma weaponry and, for now in theory, plasma energy generators. Also, new alloys and ceramic composites for armor. And also a new type of matter-disrupting technology that is used to create what we call a power weapon – extremely potent melee weapon. We are still not sure if the latter technology could be applied in any other way but we are certain that there is great potential to it."

There was a slight murmur among the assembled officers and Lindholm was the first to ask a question. "You said that you acquired this tech. Which probably means you were not the one who developed it? So, who was it then? Salarians? Asari?"

"That's where it gets interesting, Admiral," Hummel smiled. "It's very possible that it was developed by humans. General Kenshin?"

The Chief of Intelligence nodded and tapped on her terminal, replacing the image of Gyrinx with several photos of August Gallardi. "Ladies and gentlemen, the man you see now is known as August Gallardi. Captain August Gallardi, if we use the rank he gave."

"I think I saw him on the news. They say Shepard got into a firefight with a bunch of mercs and this guy was involved." Admiral Reis noted and several other Admirals agreed with him, which was not surprising – for the last day these were the top news in the Council Space.

"We will get to that particular conflict later. What's more important that it was he who gave us the technologies professor Hummel mentioned." Kenshin noted.

"To be more precise, Captain Gallardi gave us the scans of the weapons he currently uses," Hummel added.

"You mean there are already working prototypes of these weapons?" Admiral Singh asked. "Just who is this guy? And you keep saying he's a Captain. Captain of what? Is he from some new merc band we're not aware of?"

"He isn't. We used the markings and decorations on his armor and run it through our database. None of the known mercenary groups match." Kenshin said. "As he informed Commander Shepard, who in turn told Operations Chief Williams, Captain Gallardi is a former officer of the Imperial Guard."

"He doesn't really look like one of your compatriots, Kenshin." Lindholm noted.

"I assure you, Admiral, the Japanese Imperial Guard has nothing to do with it. According to his story, Captain Gallardi came from a different dimension, where mankind is united in a theocratic empire called The Imperium of Man and Imperial Guard is its main military force."

The Admirals silently stared at Kenshin and then at Hackett.

"Trust me, it gets better." He told them. "Continue, Kenshin."

"Of course. So, at this point we're not entirely sure whether we can believe Captain Gallardi's tale or not, but certain aspects we can't deny – he utilizes extremely advanced weapons and is wearing a rather solid and advanced set of armor, both of which seem to have been developed without the implementation of Mass Effect technology."

"In this case there are two options – either he's telling the truth or somewhere out there exist a group of humans we're not aware of and they have a genius scientist who managed to develop things that are vastly superior to even the technologies of the Protheans." Hummel said. "I find the last version to be even less possible and most of my colleagues agree with me."

"Also, there is one more important thing to consider." Kenshin once again typed on her terminal and this time several pictures of Farseer Maeteris appeared on screen.

"According to information provided to us Shepard and Williams, Captain Gallardi was not the only to arrive from another dimension. Here you see the being known as Farseer Maeteris. I use the word being because she is not human; although I'm sure everyone present here can tell that. According to her story, she is a member of the alien species called the Eldar."

"Another alien species?" Singh asked incredulously.

"Yes, but this time it's far more complicated," Kenshin said and then told everyone present about the events on Horizon and the impact they had on the Citadel Council, including the meeting of Maeteris with Spectre Tela Vasir.

"So, we're getting Reapers back from under the carpet." Admiral Vitaliy Istomin, Commander of the Sixth Fleet, said with a sigh. "Shepard is going to be pissed. Both of them."

"Especially considering the fact that we refused to believe her, one of our own people, but we are prepared to believe the word of a space Elf sorceress from another dimension," Admiral Gerhard von Shroeter, Commander of the Forth Fleet, added ruefully.

"What of the Citadel Council?" the last of the present Admirals and the Commander of the Eighth Fleet, Hong Tianpei, asked. "How are they treating this news?"

"Spectre Vasir left Illium immediately after her meeting with the Eldar. She looked like she was in a hurry," Kenshin replied. "We can assume that the Farseer managed to convince the Spectre and the issue of Reapers will be soon discussed."

"So, the main question now is: Reapers are coming and what can we do about it?" Hackett asked the Admirals.

"Not to sound like a downer but we're screwed." Lindholm said and leaned back in her chair. "You were there, Steve. You know what losses we took while trying to take down one of those things. And now we're talking about an armada that destroyed countless civilizations."

"Even if we start building ships with all our production capabilities, it will not be enough," Istomin added. "And let's not forget that we'll need to convince the Parliament about the whole thing. I doubt that they are going to buy the whole Eldar story."

"If the Citadel Council will buy it, the Parliament probably also will." Hackett said. "But you're right, quantity will not save us. There's no way we could defeat such a threat conventionally. Therefore, we need to invest in quality. And by quality I mean the technologies we got from Captain Gallardi. Professor Hummel, you said that your department made progress in reverse engineering the weapons, is that correct?"

"Ja, we managed to make quite the progress lately!" Hummel said jovially. "We already managed to figure out the principles of both laser and plasma weapons and are now working on the production cycle, which is far more difficult but we're very optimistic about it."

"Not to say that I'm not happy to hear these news but how?" Hackett asked. "It's only have been a few days and you said you needed to get the actual weapons to progress further."

"Indeed, at first we thought that we were stuck until we got our hands on the actual weapons but we had several eureka moments that allowed us to move forward. Unfortunately, this can only be said for laser and plasma technologies, the mater disruption technology is still a mystery to us until we manage to perform a deep analysis of the actual weapon. As to your question about the sudden and unexpected progress with laser and plasma technologies, well, one of my colleagues, Professor Lorenzo Dell'Aquila offered a rather interesting theory. Imagine the process of inventing a new weapon as a process of assembling a puzzle without having a clear picture of the end result. It can be quite tedious and frustrating process. However…"

Hummel used his terminal to show the recordings of Gallardi using his weapons on the main screen.

"In this case, we already have the end result and our puzzles were already half assembled because we already have our own laser weaponry and we had research project that studied the potential of plasma technologies. These projects were simply never given a chance to reach their full potential."

"I see that this Gallardi fella uses a laser gun. Laser rifles are good and I'm sure the ground pounders will appreciate them, but to defeat an army of dreadnoughts we need starship grade cannons," Istomin said. "Can you give us that, Professor?"

"Yes, we can. This Imperial laser technology is indeed universal; our only limit is the power supply. The fusion reactors we use right now will not be enough. However, that is where the Imperial plasma technology will help us the most. We already started working on our first prototype of plasma reactor. We estimate that a plasma reactor of sufficient size should be able power even the largest of laser weapons we're going to design."

"How large are we talking here?" Admiral Tianpei asked.

"Why, we were hoping design a laser battery large enough to replace the main mass accelerator of our dreadnoughts!" Hummel replied with undisguised pride.

The mood in the room immediately improved as the Admirals started to discuss the possibilities such firepower granted.

"Thank you for your report, Professor Hummel. Right, people, let's not get overexcited about it yet. It will still take a lot of time and resources to adapt our production facilities and to try and refit our ships. And I'm pretty sure that all of you know that such undertaking will not go unnoticed." Hackett told the assembled officers.

"Yes, our allies in the Citadel Council will start asking questions." Admiral Jameson agreed. "I'm pretty sure they all saw Captain Gallardi's adventures on Illium."

"Then let's hope Anderson is ready to answer those questions." Hackett concluded.

**Location: Serpent Nebula, Citadel Station, Citadel Council Chambers.**

"For the last decade the Illuminated Primacy's investment in scientific projects almost doubled if compared to similar period…" The Hanar ambassador continued to drone out the contents of his presentation. Even though officially the whole meeting was scheduled simply to allow the Hanar to represent the Illuminated Primacy's achievements in the sphere of cooperation with other Citadel species, everyone knew that it was another attempt by the Hanar to convince the Citadel Council to make them next members of the Council.

Anderson once more gathered all his strength to suppress another yawn. He wondered if the Asari, Salarians and Turians felt this way every time humanity pestered them about the Council seat. He looked at his colleagues and decided that they probably did.

Valern just sit there, unmoving as always. Sometimes Anderson wondered if the Salarian Councilor could sleep with his eyes open.

Tevos, on the contrary, remained ever attentive as if the Hanar presentation was indeed an extremely interesting piece of information. She was, of course, a master of keeping a straight face, her skill honed by centuries of diplomatic work.

And Sparatus. Good old Sparatus was probably using all of his species natural stoicism in order to remain calm because judging by the amount of angry glances he was throwing at Anderson, the Turian Councilor was seething inside and the information about how much the trade traffic between the Hanar space and other species increased over the last decade was the last thing that bothered Sparatus right now. Anderson didn't need three guesses to know what exactly the Turian wanted to discuss right now.

However, it seems that the fabled Turian stoicism had its limits because Anderson saw as Sparatus started to quietly drum on his table with his talons. He stopped immediately after receiving a disapproving glance from Tevos. Whether the Hanar ambassador noticed it was anyone's guess.

Anderson, of course, knew that all this had to be done. Even now, when they really had far more important issues they needed to discuss but they didn't need to be aware about it. For now, they were supposedly living in a peaceful time and if so, the attempts of the Hanar to get a seat in the Council were supposed to be the most important issues the Citadel Council had to deal with.

One day they will be forced to tell those jellyfishes that "You know, there's an armada of sapient starships coming here so, sorry but your Council seat will have to wait for a better time", but it would not be today.

"... and so this concludes this one presentation. This one is grateful for the esteemed Council's attention." The Hanar ambassador finished his speech with what probably passed for a formal bow among his people.

He was greeted with a hearted applause, not because his speech was great but because everyone was glad that he finished at last.

As always, everyone's attention turned towards Tevos, since everyone trusted her to find the proper words to politely shoo the Hanar ambassador away.

"Ambassador Zomaloon, the Council, as always, welcomes the achievements of your people and is overjoyed to learn the Illuminated Primacy plans to further develop the partnership between us. I believe that I can freely speak for everyone present when I say that we all eagerly await the next Summit of Interspecies Cooperation."

The Summit of Interspecies Cooperation was an official gathering of all Citadel species where any potential Council members were intensively screened before any final decision was made by the current Council.

"This one is hopeful that a momentous decision will be made during the next summit." Ambassador Zomaloon said.

"The Council shares your hopes in this matter." Tevos said with a courteous nod.

Anderson knew that she was keeping her fingers crossed or whatever the Asari equivalent of that gesture was. Even though there were still a lot of people who believed that the Hanar were going to be the next members of the Council, they were growing fewer in numbers with every year. Originally, it was when the Illuminated Primacy saved the Drell from extinction people first suggested that Hanar should get a seat as they were viewed as paragons of compassion and selflessness.

However, the Hanar did nothing to capitalize on such positive reputation. Their economy still remained rather closed and there was little trade between the Hanar and the rest of the Citadel species. Of course, when two years ago humanity managed to outmaneuver them, the Hanar probably realized that they weren't doing something right and that no one would give them the seat in the Council just for saving the Drell.

What they probably fail to realize is that they could not offer anything unique to other Citadel species except their aptitude with underwater engineering. Unlike, let's say, the Elcor or the Volus. The Volus however were also unlikely candidates for the seat in the Council because no one wanted to give the best bankers and economists in the Galaxy even more advantages and the Vol Protectorate's interests were already lobbied by the Turians.

As for the Elcor - they were experts in heavy engineering and mining operations, especially in conditions the rest of the species would have found extremely hazardous. That was something many of the Citadel species could benefit from and unlike the Hanar, the Elcor were much more cooperative people. So, in Anderson's opinion, the Elcor were a much more likely candidate for the seat on the Council.

Anderson's musings were interrupted by Councilor Tevos, who finally decided to bring the meeting to a close.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned. We thank everyone for attending."

The Hanar delegates along with other dignitaries started to leave the Council hall while Anderson and the rest of the councilors went to a private room, where they could discuss more serious matters. It was a rather small room with a table in the center that had several terminals installed in it. A large display was installed in one of the wall.

David once again caught an angry look from Sparatus and he was now absolutely certain that their next meeting is going to be much more dynamic than the previous one.

"You have a lot to explain, Councilor Anderson!" Sparatus declared as soon as the door to the private meeting room closed behind them.

"No, it's you who have a lot to explain, Councilor Sparatus!" David retorted while doing his best not to grin. Two can play at this game.

To his credit, Sparatus paused only for a second but then continued none the less. "You hid the knowledge of advanced weapons your 'Captain Gallardi' was using-"

"Your people fucked up another first contact with new sapient species!" Anderson interrupted him.

That shut Sparatus up. He flexed his mandibles several times and then finally managed to find his voice again. "What are talking about, Councilor Anderson?"

"G45-2184, Councilor Sparatus. Weren't your people supposed to guard that planet until we decide who gets to own that system?" Anderson asked.

Sparatus looked confused as he tried to remember the planet David was referring to.

"Councilors, please! Let us remain civil," Tevos said as she stepped between the two. She then turned to address Anderson. "Councilor, I feel that you have us at a disadvantage here. As far as I am aware, the Salarian Union explorers didn't detect any signs of advanced life on G45-2184."

"I never said they were and advanced civilization. Just sapient." Anderson replied and showed them the datapad which contained Shepard's report about the Gyrinx. He then used a terminal to transfer the report onto the room's main display. In a second, Shepard's report about the Gyrinx and how she came into contact with one appeared on the large screen, where everyone could see it. The rest of the

Councilors immediately started reading it.

Councilor Valern was the first to break the silence.

"I told you we should have performed a more detailed survey," the Salarian told Councilor Tevos.

The Asari glared back at him, looking as if she really wanted to tell Valern what exactly she thought about his smart statement and where exactly he could put it. But instead she looked at Sparatus.

"Councilor, can you offer any explanation?" She asked him.

"Do we even have proof that these creatures are actually sapient? Something besides Shepard's words?"The Turian asked.

"You should try the attached video. It's quite interesting, trust me," Anderson said with a smile and activated the video.

The next moment, the face of Professor Mordin Solus appeared on screen.

"Professor Mordin Solus' log. First encounter with primitive sapient life forms called the Gyrinx. Attempting to specify the level of intelligence. Note: It's well-known and widely accepted fact that one of the main signs of intelligence is an ability to perform basic calculus. That is what we will test in this report."

"Unfortunately, the verbal communications are limited at the moment because of the Gyrinx heavy reliance on psychic communication. However, according to Farseer Maeteris information, our Gyrinx guest, M'tarr, should now understand most of the main Galactic languages."

"Note: Farseer Maeteris transferred the knowledge to M'tarr through psychic link. Fascinating concept."

"Therefore, M'tarr understands us perfectly but cannot reply because of the limitations of her vocals."

It seemed that Mordin was recording all this on his omni-tool because the angle suddenly changed and the screen showed what looked like ship's CIC and then showed the Gyrinx sitting on the floor between Shepard and Farseer Maeteris.

"The experiment begins now. M'tarr, can you tell us how much is two plus two?"

Even though Anderson already watched the video before, the reaction of M'tarr once again made him smile – the feline narrowed her eyes and turned her ears backwards, making her look extremely annoyed.

"M'tarr wishes to inform you that she is not stupid." The Eldar woman said.

"Apologies, never intended to offend anyone." Mordin said and the camera once again turned to him. "Note: ability to be offended is a complex emotion that implies the existence of certain concepts and standards of behavior like pride, honor, dignity and other. Also a trait associated with intelligent species."

The camera switched back to M'tarr.

"Even so, the answer to my question is?"

As a way of answering, the Gyrinx raised her paw and then spread out the four digits on it.

"Note the correct answer. Now, six multiplied by ten?"

The Gyrinx looked at her paw and then lowered it, obviously realizing that digits will not suffice this time. M'tarr looked thoughtful for a couple of seconds and then purred and looked at Farseer Maeteris.

"Well, M'tarr understands that simply saying sixty through me will not be very convincing so instead she used a riddle – six multiplied by ten will be the amount of days it takes the Eye of the Night Hunter to twice fully close and open again."

Mordin's face appeared again. "Obviously, some event that takes 30 days to complete. But what could this 'Eye of the Night Hunter' be?"

"That is how they refer to their world's natural satellite." Maeteris offered matter-of-factly.

"Yes, the lunar cycle! EDI, what is G45-2184's lunar cycle?"

"30.125 days," Anderson heard Councilor Valern say. Why the Salarian kept such information in his head was anybody's guess.

"30.125 days," Said a female voice in the recording. Mordin nodded and continued.

"While technically the answer is not entirely correct, we should note that the Gyrinx were able to figure out a pattern in lunar phases, which is also a sign of intelligent thinking. Now, what is a square root of two thousand four hundred and one?"

The camera showed the Gyrinx again and this time the creature tilted her head to the left and looked very confused by Mordin's question.

"Okay, Mordin, if I didn't have an engineer training, I would have needed a calculator to answer that." Anderson heard Shepard tell from the screen.

"Yes, perhaps a little too complex for now." The camera once again turned back to Mordin. "Should be enough for now. Next time will discuss social structure as well as main political and philosophical ideas of the Gyrinx. Right now, it is enough to state that the Gyrinx are indeed intelligent species and a proper contact should be established. Communication will be a problem, however, without a skillful psyker like Farseer Maeteris-"

"I would suggest using an Asari diplomat and to try and establish a mind meld with a Gyrinx. I am confident that it will work." The Eldar said from behind Mordin.

"Yes, yes. Good suggestion!" Mordin nodded. "Also, will need to try and find a way to adapt the translator implants. Perhaps there is a way to capture psychic impulses and interpret them somehow. Interesting project, good for free time. Professor Mordin Solus signing off."

And with that the recording ended.

Sparatus sighed heavily. "If you will excuse me for a moment." He said as he activated his omni-tool. "Give me Executor Pallin."

After a small pause Sparatus was connected with the head of C-Sec.

"Councilor, it's an honor. How can-," the Executor began but was quickly interrupted by Sparatus.

"Cut the pleasantries, Pallin, we got a situation here. Who is the commander of the patrol fleet guarding the planet designated G45-2184?"

"Captain Gart Varrakus, sir. Wait, how did you know about G45?" Pallin asked Sparatus.

"I just read Spectre Shepard's report." Sparatus replied and then added. "You knew about this already? Since when?"

"I just received an earful from Harren Vakarian," Pallin replied simply. "We were about to start a formal investigation, but if you're saying a Spectre also reported about this incident..."

"Vakarian, huh?" Sparatus mused. Anderson was certain that Harren was somehow related to Garrus Vakarian. "Yes, I have the official report from Shepard right in front of me. I want all information you have on Captain Varrakus and his crew as soon as possible. Oh, and contact Hierarchy Command and tell them to prepare a security detail. We will be sending a diplomatic mission soon."

"Yes, sir!"

"Sparatus out." The Turian Councilor said crisply and switched off his omni-tool. He then looked back at his fellow Councilors. "We will get to the bottom of this."

"I sincerely hope so." Tevos said. "I will offer a list of suitable candidates as well. Councilor Anderson, I understand that these Gyrinx are somewhat similar to felines of your homeworld, is that correct?"

"They certainly look like lynxes, only with long tails." Anderson replied, already knowing what Tevos was about to ask. "I will ask for specialists in such species, see if they could offer some advice."

"That would be excellent. Hopefully they would allow us to find a way to avoid the accidents similar to those that we had when we invited the Raloi delegation." The Asari said, referring to the avian species discovered a year ago, whose delegation to the Citadel got infected with the avian flu and were now forced to wear environmental suits just like the Volus and the Quarians.

"We will provide our own representatives as soon as possible." Valern said as he made notes on his omni-tool.

"Now that we got that out of the way, shall we return to more important matters? Like why the Systems Alliance hid the knowledge of advanced laser weaponry from the rest of us?" Sparatus finally managed to return the conversation to his preferred topic.

"You make it sound like your people would have acted differently if such powerful technology fell into your hands." Anderson said and crossed his arms. "As far as I am aware, there are no laws that demand that we share every piece of technology we might discover."

"So, is this the kind of behavior we should expect from your people, Councilor Anderson?" Sparatus asked, his voice oozing with sarcasm. "Is this the famed 'human spirit of cooperation' you used to talk about so much when you asked to be granted a seat on/in the Council?"

"If you're trying to make a point, Councilor Sparatus, you can start doing it right now." Anderson replied.

"When your people were not a part of this Council, you did everything possible to gain a position. When you discovered that beacon on Eden Prime, you immediately called us, so eager to uphold the laws of the Citadel and show that you are worthy of the seat." Sparatus said. "Now that you're one of us, you think that the laws no longer apply to you?"

"The laws specify that the remnants of the Prothean civilization are considered to be a common heritage of the Citadel species and species associated with them." Anderson countered. "The weapons that Captain August Gallardi willingly shared with us..."

"Oh, please. Did you really think that we were going to buy your story?" Sparatus interrupted him. "We all know that humans are creative people, but seriously, next time you should come up with a more down to earth story if you want us to believe you."

Anderson narrowed his eyes. "Are you implying that we lied to you?"

"That is exactly what I'm implying." The Turian replied. "Let me tell what I think really happened: some time ago, humanity discovered somewhere a cache of Prothean weapons, maybe an ancient weapons factory or a weapons lab. There you found weapons that surpass anything the Galaxy has, but instead of sharing it with the others and collectively increase the power and security of Citadel Space, you decided to save it for yourself."

"Once your scientists reverse engineered the weapons and you managed to create a working prototype, you realized that you need to find a way to properly introduce these new weapons to the rest of the Galaxy. Because you knew that no one would ever believe that humanity could design such advanced weapons in such a short time without anyone finding out. And so you created a fancy story about a human from another dimension, who gave you advanced weapons. And since these weapons were supposedly developed by humans, you no longer have to share this technology with anybody."

Sparatus crossed his arms, clearly satisfied with his deductive skills. "So, what will you say, Councilor Anderson? I wasn't too far away from the truth, was I?"

Anderson tried to control himself but failed very quickly. "That was-" David started chuckling. "I'm sorry, Councilor but-" was all he managed to add before starting to laugh in earnest.

After a few moments of healthy laughter, Anderson managed to finally get himself together. "Phew, that was brilliant, Sparatus, I think you added a couple of years to my lifetime. I swear to God, next time I hear someone saying that Turians have no imagination, I will punch that person in the face."

"Laugh all you want, Councilor, it doesn't change the fact that-"

"Councilor Sparatus, please, calm down." Tevos intervened. "While under different circumstances your suggestions would have had (some) merit, you are missing a crucial argument that supports Councilor Anderson's story about Captain Gallardi - Farseer Maeteris."

"Oh, that one? We're still not certain if she is simply just a human in disguise."

"I will have to disagree on that. We managed to gather small samples of her genetic material, hair specifically, and concluded that she is not a human." Valern said. "We also know that Spectre Tela Vasir managed to establish a contact with the Eldar."

"I was not aware that we authorized a Spectre to establish contact with this Eldar," Sparatus glared at Tevos. He didn't look very pleased with the fact that Vasir was sent without his decision.

"We did not. I knew that Spectre Vasir was on Illium and I simply asked her to observe the Farseer should the latter land on Illium like she did." Tevos said, seemingly oblivious to Sparatus' ire. "While I suggested that Vasir should avoid the direct contact for now, it appears that Farseer Maeteris wanted to contact us as well. She wanted to warn us."

Sparatus covered his face with a palm of his hand. "I don't need two guesses to know where this is going." He said with a weary sigh.

"You sarcasm is ill placed, Councilor Sparatus. The situation is as dire as it can possibly be." Tevos replied and Anderson noticed a hint of a scowl appeared on Asari's face. "I would like to invite Vasir to join our discussion, if nobody objects."

"Sounds good to me," Anderson said. Things were finally moving in the right direction.

Valern simply nodded and Sparatus waved his hand dismissively.

"Thank you," Tevos said and reached for her communicator. "Please invite Spectre Vasir in."

The door opened and Vasir entered the room. The Asari was wearing her armor with Spectre insignia, her face and posture were oozing determination. She approached the Council and stood at attention.

"Councilors, I am honored to be in your presence." Tela said and bowed her head slightly.

"You may stand at ease, Spectre." Tevos said courtly. "Can you please inform this Council about your meeting with a representative of the Eldar people, the one who calls herself Farseer Maeteris?"

"I was performing a basic remote observation of Eldar, as per your personal request, and avoided detection by the subject. However, due to the extraordinary abilities of the Farseer, I was detected. In fact, I can speculate that the Eldar had been always aware that she and her companions were followed, both by me and the STG operatives." Vasir reported. "Once I was discovered, the Eldar proposed to have a direct conversation."

"What was the topic of your conversation?" The Asari Councilor asked the Spectre.

"Once we were done with introductions, the Eldar Farseer declared that she wanted me to pass a message to this Council. A warning that a race of sapient machines we call Reapers is real just as the threat they pose to all living creatures and that we are fools to ignore it."

"What were Farseer Maeteris' arguments?" Valern asked.

"She used her abilities to initiate something akin to an Asari mind meld." Vasir replied. "Then she showed me a psychic vision that depicted the destruction of her, well, I guess the term 'ancestors' will not be entirely correct here, considering the Farseer's origin, but-"

"Fascinating." Sparatus interrupted her. "Let me guess: the Eldar were also destroyed by the Reapers, weren't they?"

"That was what I was about to say, Councilor." Vasir replied. She remained composed so it was impossible to say whether or not she felt insulted by his interruption.

"Great. Tell me, Spectre Vasir, are you familiar with the Law of the unprovable evidence?"

This time Anderson clear saw the Asari stiffen at the mention of that particular law, and David could not blame her. He was wondering when Sparatus was going to mention that law.

The Law of the Unprovable Evidence, also called by the Asari as "The Law of the Asari credibility", was an infamous piece of the Citadel legislation that stated that information attained through the Asari mind meld cannot be used as evidence. In modern times the ability to enter the mind of a suspect, search for his or her memories and use it to either confirm or disprove the person's involvement in any crime could be a tremendous boon to the crime fighting system. It was one of the reasons there was so little crime in Asari Republics. However, there was a small problem with the fact that only the Asari were the people capable of mind meld. The rest of the species could not do it and after so many years no one besides the Asari could actually explain how the mind meld works.

Thus, if an Asari enters a mind of a suspect, only another Asari could vouch for her and the evidence she provides. True, the Asari investigator could first grab an evidence from a suspect and then meld minds with a Turian or a Salarian to let then confirm that the evidence is true, but that was where skeptics raised another question – what if the Asari are capable of "altering" their memories and then presenting them as genuine?

Even though many universally respected members of the Asari species testified that it is impossible to alter someone's memories and anyone who has ever been in a mind meld could easily spot the difference between memories and fantasy, even though their testimonies were supported by many members of all other sapient species, the Law of the Unprovable Evidence was still enacted, because in the end no one really trusted the Asari to such a degree. Hence the nickname the Asari gave to this law.

When the law was passed, the Asari did not protest much. Anderson figured that it was probably because they decided that as long-living species they should be patient about it. One day they would win over the other species' trust and the law will be canceled.

If that was indeed the case, Anderson knew that the irony of their current situation was not lost on the two Asari present in the room.

"Yes, as an Asari I am very familiar with that particular 'law'," Vasir replied. "I fail to see how it is relevant."

"It is very relevant from where I stand." Sparatus told her. "Consider this, Spectre Vasir: for the first time in recorded history you have encountered a being capable of doing the same thing your species can – an ability to establish a psychic link between two people. But we also know that she is capable of other mystical and unexplained things. Now I know that your people claim that it is easy to tell fact from fantasy during the mind meld, but we're not talking about an Asari here. Can you really trust this Eldar? Do you know the full extent of her abilities? What if this 'vision' is just an elaborate fake to make you think that-"

"It is not a fake," Vasir insisted.

"And you're so certain about it, why exactly?" Sparatus asked.

"Because it was me who joined minds with the Eldar Farseer. And it looks like you have never experienced a mind meld before."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because if you did, you would have known that mind meld is not simply an exchange of information, like when you plug in the OSD into the terminal to copy a certain file. It is much more than that. It is a connection between the two consciousnesses where not only memories are shared but emotions as well."

Vasir paused and closed her eyes for a moment, as if she was lost in some memory. "And it was that which proved to me that Farseer Maeteris' vision was not a fake - her emotions. When she showed me the vision, I reached out from my side in order to feel the Eldar's emotions. I felt only one thing - grief. Grief so powerful, so overwhelming that it made me want to do nothing else but to run away because I could not face it. I do not want to know what it is like to be the one of a kind in an entire universe. To never hear a familiar speech, except when you are the one who speaks. To never see anyone of your kin. Never hear them laugh or cry or sing or argue. To never feel a touch of a lover. The very fact that Farseer Maeteris is still alive makes me want to marvel at the strength of her spirit, because to be perfectly honest, were I in her place, I would have ended my own life."

"Emotions are not something you can fake, Councilor Sparatus, especially not something as strong and deep as Farseer Maeteris' feelings." Vasir concluded.

Sparatus remained silent for a moment and then he spoke. "As touching as your explanation is, it is not a proof I'm willing to accept. The Law of Unprovable-"

"For Goddess' sake, Sparatus, enough of that!" Tevos interrupted him and it was the first time Anderson heard her raising her voice. "We are all fully aware why that law was created, but this is hardly the time to bring it up! This is not an investigation of a corrupt statesman or a complicated homicide case we are talking about here, we are talking about a threat to our civilizations, a threat that already eradicated countless other species! We already hid behind an 'insufficient evidence' two years ago, now that we now that we are actually given another chance, we cannot just hide behind another convenient piece of legislation!"

Tevos' sudden outburst seemed to have really taken Sparatus by surprise, he even took a step back.

"Now this is unexpected." The Turian said and crossed his arms. "I can understand Spectre Vasir's reasoning but to see someone as wise as you are, Councilor Tevos, treat this 'Reaper' theory as something genuine is surprising to say the least."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Vasir asked him. "What is so special about my 'reasoning'?"

"Vasir, calm down," Tevos told her fellow Asari, seeing that Vasir didn't like Sparatus' remark.

"No, no, if 'honored' Councilor Sparatus wants to accuse me of something, he can tell me straight away. I am certainly not as old as Councilor Tevos but am certainly old enough to know several of Councilor Sparatus' predecessors, and all of them trusted my judgment. Especially the late Councilor Soverius, who was among those who granted me a title of Citadel Council Spectre."

"I am not accusing you of anything, Spectre. Yet. But it seems to me that you're now a third Spectre to fall prey to the Reaper conspiracy." Sparatus replied. "Sometimes I feel that I'm the only one who sees that by using the Reapers myth someone is trying to undermine one of the most powerful institutions of the Citadel – the Spectres. Our most trusted protectors suddenly lose their minds and turn their backs on the very people they have sworn to protect. And every time it's either some ancient Prothean artifact or a vision of Galactic doom is somehow involved. First, it was Saren – one of the most loyal soldiers of the Hierarchy suddenly decided to overthrow the Citadel Council. Then Shepard, a person who during her hunt for Saren did everything she could to undermine the operations of a terrorist organization called Cerberus. Two years later she is working for the said organization."

"Both interacted with certain Prothean beacons. Both probably received the same 'vision' of a tremendous threat looming over our civilizations. And both eventually fell from grace." Sparatus concluded. "And it seems to me that you, Spectre Vasir, now have similar... symptoms."

Anderson saw as Vasir's hands balled and small flashes of biotic energy appeared around her.

"How dare you!" The Asari hissed and took a step towards the Turian Councilor.

"_You will stop immediately, matron of House Vasir,_" Anderson heard Tevos say. He also realized that the Asari switched to Traditional Asari language because his implant struggled with the complex nuisances of that particular dialect.

"_I am no traitor,_" Vasir looked over her shoulder as she replied. She also switched to Traditional. "_If he was not a Councilor I would have had this 'insignificant' eat its own words here and now._"

"_I know._" Tevos said calmly. "_But this is not our way. Desist._"

The Asari Spectre looked at Tevos for a brief moment but then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her biotic aura disappeared a moment later. Without sparing Sparatus a second glance, Vasir turned away from him and went to take a position behind Tevos.

"I think I've heard enough. If all of you wish to believe in this Reaper madness, than that is your choice." Sparatus said angrily. "The Turian Hierarchy however will search for the true threat and I promise you that we will find out what is really going on. Good day to all of you. Oh, and Councilor Anderson? Don't think that I have forgotten about those weapons. We will get to the bottom of that as well."

As much as David wanted to say "_Ooh, look at me. I'm shaking with fear._" he was fully aware that the situation was already tense, so he just shrugged.

The Turian Councilor turned around and stomped towards the exit. But as he was about to leave the room, Councilor Tevos spoke up.

"For the sake of all our species, I wish you luck in your quest. Because whether you like it or not, there is only one truth out there. I just hope that when you finally accept that truth it will not be too late for all of us."

Sparatus spared her one final look and then he finally left.

Once Sparatus was gone, Tevos took a seat in one of the chairs and sighed heavily. For a brief moment stared blankly at one point before directing her gaze at Valern.

"Councilor Valern, judging by the fact that you said nothing to counter Councilor Sparatus' arguments it will not be too presumptuous of me to assume that you support his theories?"

"You're correct in your assumptions to a certain degree. While I would not be so categorical as to question Spectre Vasir's loyalty to this Council and doubt her mental state, nevertheless, I agree with the fact that we cannot use visions to convince our people that the Reapers exist and they are coming to destroy us all. At least I can speak for my people. Because of the Asari natural abilities, you can share the evidence through the mind meld among the members of the Council of the Matriarchs and that will be enough to convince your people. Because the grand majority of the Asari trusts the wisdom of the Matriarchs."

"But it's different with the Salarians. While we trust and respect our leaders, we're also people of science. We trust in things we can measure and evaluate, we trust in things the existence of which can be proved through scientific method. The preparations to the possible war with the Reapers will be an enormous undertaking and to assure the Salarian people that the threat is real we will need something more solid than visions. And I believe that the same can be said for humans."

Anderson chuckled. "You're right about that. Me and several other officers of the Systems Alliance are willing to believe that the Reapers are real because we trusted Shepard. We doubted her once, but now we have another, quite possibly a completely unbiased person warning us about the same thing. Personally, I'm not going to doubt Shepard again, not about the Reapers at least. But to convince the populace that the war with the Reapers is inevitable and that every aspect of our economy and industry should be dedicated to this war we will need something more concrete. And I think we should stop waiting for someone to give us that evidence and start looking for it ourselves, using all resources we have at our disposal."

"Agreed." Valern nodded. "Under different circumstances I would not have supported such an investigation but if the Asari people, our most ancient ally, considers the Reapers to be a genuine threat, then the Salarian Union will assist you in finding an irrefutable proof of that threat. One that even someone as skeptical as Councilor Sparatus would not be so sure to dismiss easily."

Tevos looked relieved to hear this. "I understand your reasons, Councilors and I fully agree that we should start an investigation as quickly as possible. Please, take a seat, I do not think that we should postpone this discussion in any way. We have already wasted two years."

Both Valern and Anderson sat down and David was first to speak.

"So, as ridiculous as my next question is going to be, I'll ask it anyway: where do we start?"

"I am certain that all of you remember that Spectre Shepard promised us to personally find the proof of Reapers existence. First of all I wish to suggest that we find more ways to support her mission, despite her association with Cerberus." The Asari looked at Anderson then. "Councilor, can you use your channels to contact the Spectre and tell her that we are willing to further assist her by providing intelligence or resources she might need in order to complete her mission?"

"Will do. I'm sure she will appreciate the gesture although something tells me she would welcome a full reinstatement even more."

"Understandable but we cannot do that without Sparatus." Valern shook his head. "We all know that he will oppose this with all his legendary Turian stubbornness."

"It is indeed very unfortunate. I hope that sooner or later the circumstances will change but until then Spectre Shepard will have to accept the fact that our options are limited." Tevos agreed. "Also, when you contact her, please pass along a formal invitation to visit the Citadel for Farseer Maeteris. Hopefully she and Spectre Shepard would find the time to arrange a meeting with us."

"I will make it happen." Anderson said with a nod.

"Excellent. Now, as I said, Spectre Shepard promised us to find another proof of the Reapers' existence. We all know just how resourceful Shepard is but I agree with Anderson – we should not sit and wait until the evidence is delivered to us. We should start working from another angle." Tevos said. She then started using her terminal, most likely to bring some other information on the main screen. "Instead of blindly rushing forward searching everywhere, I suggest we go back and review the clues we have dismissed before."

She finished typing and when Anderson looked at the main screen and was somewhat surprised to see Liara T'Soni's dossier displayed there.

"I do not know if you were aware of this fact but long before Spectre Shepard and Dr. Liara T'Soni ever met, the doctor was known among the scientific circles of my people for her somewhat unorthodox ideas concerning the Protheans. She once hypothesized that Protheans did not disappear due to disease or a natural disaster because there was no evidence of that, as if someone deliberately deleted the information. The same Dr. T'Soni said about the Inusanon. Her last hypothesis was that there might be a certain pattern in the disappearances of the ancient civilizations. In our hubris we dismissed her theories, considering them to be nothing but fantasies of an overly excited maiden. Now it seems that we failed to see what a young mind considered to be painfully obvious."

Tevos sighed and continued. "Thus I suggest that we form a group of investigators that would revise her theory as well other similar theories that were proposed in the past but dismissed for various reasons. Employing Dr. T'Soni might be a good idea as well – her studies of the Protheans and her experiences as a former member of Shepard's crew will definitely prove useful."

Valern scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Not the most effective approach, because many of those theories will be nothing but baseless speculations but see no other viable alternative. I will immediately request the STG to perform thorough search among the STG archives, as I'm certain our own scientist also had alternative theories of Protheans disappearance but were dismissed due to the lack of evidence."

"If we're going to deal with ancient history, archeology and conspiracy theories then I think I know a scientist who might prove useful," Anderson said. "Dr. Garret Bryson, he is the head of Taskforce Aurora."

"What are the goals of this taskforce?" Tevos asked. "If that is not a great secret, of course."

"Considering the situation it should not be any longer – Dr. Bryson's research is connected to the Leviathan of Dis."

The mention of the Leviathan immediately attracted Valerns' attention. ""I highly doubt that he had any success in this matter - the Leviathan of Dis is the most guarded secret of the Batarian Hegemony. Even after all these years the STG still hasn't been able to find the place where the Batarians hid it." The Salarian said.

"True that." Anderson nodded. "That's probably the reason why Dr. Brynson is not really interested in the Leviathan itself but in the thing that killed it."

"Hm, I see," Valern said. "Do you think it is somehow connected with the Reapers?"

"Well, your own surveyors described it as an 'enormous organic-looking dreadnought'," Anderson reminded him. "I think we already saw something like that before, wouldn't you agree?"

Valern looked thoughtful. "Yes... There were people who suggested that the two cases can be connected but our data on the Leviathan of Dis is very limited. The Batarians never gave us a chance to study it properly."

"Perhaps we should ask the Hegemony for help. If the Leviathan is indeed a ancient dead Reaper then this information would help us immensely." Tevos suggested.

"I would not even bother; they will just continue to zealously defend their usual statement that Leviathan of Dis never existed in the first place." Valern snorted. "Even when we waved our survey data right before their eyes, they still denied it all, claiming that we fabricated it."

"Even so, I see no harm in trying. The circumstances have changed, perhaps this time they would listen."

Valern simply shrugged.

"Well, Reaper or not, finding what destroyed an ancient enormous dreadnought would definitely prove useful in our fight against the Reapers." Anderson continued. "And since we decided that in order to find clues of Reaper threat we should dig in the past then Dr. Bryson's team could be used as a core of our project. After all they were doing this for quite some time."

"That is an excellent suggestion." Tevos said.

"Yes, that would be the most efficient way to start our investigation." Valern agreed.

"Then it is settled – Taskforce Aurora is to become an inter-species project." Tevos concluded. "For now it is just between our people but hopefully other species would join it later. Including the Turians."

"They will come around as soon as they realize they don't really have much choice." Anderson smiled. "I will inform Admiral Hackett. I'm certain that Dr. Bryson will be delighted to find out that his project is about to become something greater."

"Unless anyone has any other suggestions, I propose that we conclude our meeting." The Asari Councilor suggested. "We have much to do and time is not really on our side."

"I think we all agree on that." Anderson nodded and the three of them stood up.

"In that case I wish you good fortune, fellow Councilors and I am looking forward to our next meeting on this matter." Tevos said and bowed slightly.

They exchanged pleasantries and moved towards the conference room's exit. However, before Anderson left the room he decided that he should speak with Tevos a bit more because there was a question on his mind that really needed an answer.

"Councilor Tevos, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked the Asari.

"Of course, how can I help?" Tevos stopped and Vasir patiently waited behind her.

Anderson noticed that Valern had stopped as well, no doubt interested in what this was all about. Not willing to put Tevos in an awkward position, Anderson waved dismissively at the Salarian Councilor.

"It's a minor thing, really. Just something I want to know about the Asari governance." Anderson told Valern.

The Salarian gave them a quick nod. "Farewell, Councilors. Spectre." He said and left the room.

"What is it that you wish to know, Councilor?" Tevos asked him. Anderson looked at Vasir, wandering if he should ask her to leave but decided not to bother since she too was an Asari.

"So, Councilor, I want to make something clear – your sudden change of heart about the Reaper threat is based on the vision that the Eldar Farseer through Spectre Vasir shared with you and the other Asari Matriarchs, is that correct?"

"Almost, except for the part about other Asari Matriarchs. For now, Vasir shared the vision with me only, but I will shortly depart to Thessia to present the vision to the rest of the member of the Council of the Matriarchs."

"Oh, is that it? What if they, you know, decide to dismiss it?"

"Do not worry about that Councilor, they will not. As one of the members of the Council, I can guarantee that this vision is not something my fellow Matriarchs would dismiss. It will be evaluated and hopefully, we will find some useful information there, perhaps something about the Reapers' strategy and tactics."

"Okay, if you are so certain about it, then that's great." Anderson said. "Now, on to my main question – pardon my coarse language but why the hell didn't you do the same thing two years ago? You know that Shepard also gained a vision about Protheans' destruction when she interacted with a beacon on Eden Prime?"

Tevos smiled lightly. "Yes, I expected to hear that question from you. Contrary to what you might believe two years ago the Council of the Matriarchs studied the vision the Commander received. Dr. T'Soni shared it with us. But unlike now, the barely understandable collection of vague images that was Shepard's vision was not deemed to be solid evidence of the Reapers' existence. The Matriarchs dismissed it, as we believed that Shepard interpreted the vision incorrectly. True, that vision showed us terrible of images of death and suffering but we believed it to be a recording of one of the many conflicts the Protheans had during their history, but there was no indication that the Protheans lost that particular conflict. We believed that if the Protheans were indeed wiped out by another civilization, we would have seen more evidence of that – obliterated cities, sings of orbital bombardment, mass graves. The Citadel Station should have been a battle-scarred station or an assembly of debris, not the gleaming jewel among the stars it was when we first saw it."

"Okay, I get the picture. But Shepard wasn't the only one who believed in Reapers. I'm fairly certain that Liara was not satisfied with the Matriarchs' verdict."

"Indeed, she was not." Tevos looked uncomfortable. "But you must understand, that as intelligent as she is, Liara T'Soni is very young. We considered that due to the nature of... her and Spectre Shepard's relationship we considered her opinion to be extremely biased."

"So-o, the scuttlebutt was right all along?" Anderson asked as soon as he heard the word "relationship".

"As you humans like to say about such things – no comment." Tevos replied diplomatically.

"Yeah." Anderson sighed. "Alright, I think I get it. In layman's terms you're saying that comparing the vision of Eldar and the vision of Shepard is like comparing a picture taken by an omni-tool and an ancient badly preserved painting that was made centuries ago."

"To be even more precise, in Shepard's case the picture was dropped in a liquid paint and then set on fire and we were left with a small fragment that says 'something bad happened but we are not certain what exactly happened, when it happened and how it ended'." Tevos corrected him. "Time proved that we were wrong but even the Matriarchs are not infallible. Right now there is no simply time to dwell on that."

"Right. Well, that will be all then, sorry for taking your time, Councilor. Farewell and good luck with your meeting." Anderson said and turned to leave.

"Councilor Anderson, could you spare me a moment of your time because now it is I who wish to ask you about something." Tevos' words stopped David mid-turn.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Now, I really wished for this to happen in more comfortable circumstances but time is of the essence." Tevos clasped her hands and continued. "Councilor Anderson, as I understand your people have recently gained access to a vast array of potent military grade technology. Now, I wish you to know that I realize that under different circumstances you would not have even considered sharing those technologies with others due to the tremendous tactical and strategic advantage they provide. I will not bore you with needless rhetoric about how wise it would be to share those weapons with others as I am certain you are fully aware of the gravity of our situation."

"Therefore, I have a proposition – an honest trade." Tevos continued. "Once again I will stress that I understand the enormous value of these new technologies but my people are very interested in acquiring them and I assure you, the Asari Republics have much to offer."

"_I think we need to check Tevos, she's probably broken somewhere._" Anderson smiled inwardly because this was the first time he had seen the Asari Councilor being so straightforward. Then again, with the Reapers bearing down on them this was probably a good thing.

And she was right about many things. If there were no Reapers, the Systems Alliance would have never traded the new tech with anyone. But right now technology alone would not save them. It needs to be applied to something. They could retrofit their existing ships with new lasers but they still need more ships. The bigger, the better. As members of the Citadel Council, humans were allowed to legally have as much dreadnoughts as the Asari and the Salarians (even though the very idea of the limit on ships was ridiculous, considering the circumstances), but to build dreadnoughts the Systems Alliance needs Eezo. Lots of Eezo. Lots of Eezo that is cheap and highly-refined at the same time.

And that was something the Asari had in droves – refined Eezo. True, they also had some interesting shipbuilding technologies but Eezo is something the Alliance really needs if it wants to build more dreadnoughts fast. The Alliance might lose the technological advantage but in return it would get an enormous space armada. So there was really only one option for Anderson.

"I accept your proposition and I shall pass it along to both Systems Alliance Naval Command and the members of Systems Alliance Parliament."

"I am glad that you are willing to consider our proposition. I look forward to our negotiations on this matter. I sincerely hope that we will reach an agreement that is beneficial to us both." Tevos said and bowed slightly.

"Will there be anything else?" Anderson asked.

Tevos shook head. "No, no. That will be all for now. Thank you for your time."

"It was my pleasure, Councilor." Anderson said and he was surprised to find out how genuine his last words were - this Council meeting was probably the first one he actually enjoyed.

* * *

><p>Vasir had mixed feelings about the possible trade agreement between the humans and the Asari – on the one hand she was glad that the human Councilor didn't refuse Tevos' proposition immediately showing that they were open for discussion but on the other hand knowing how greedy the humans can be Vasir was certain that they would really make the Asari work for those technologies. The humans might lose their advantage but they would make sure that the Asari didn't end up with the upper hand either.<p>

There was always an alternative way of getting the new technologies – it could always be stolen. But considering the fact that they would need to form a unified from to oppose the Reapers, that approach was hardly a good one.

"Follow me, there is something we need to discuss," Tevos told her as she started moving.

"Councilor, I have a favor to ask." Vasir said as walked behind her Councilor.

"What kind of favor?"

"I wish to be included in the Taskforce Aurora." Vasir replied. Now that she knew what enemy threatened the whole Galaxy, Vasir wanted to be at the front. Even if the "front" meant mostly investigation rather than combat.

"Yes, I expected that you would." Tevos said. "And as a matter of fact that is exactly what I wished to discuss with you. Your work with Taskforce Aurora will start today."

"Thank you. What are my orders?"

"You will return back to Illium and make contact with Dr. T'Soni."

"_Not good._" Vasir thought to herself. Farseer Maeteris knew that she was working for the Shadow Broker and that meant that quite possibly Shepard knew as well. And Shepard would definitely tell Liara. She desperately thought of a way to weasel out of this task but knew that it would too much suspicion from the Councilor.

"You will have two tasks in this matter." Tevos continued, completely unaware of Tela's internal struggle. "First, you will tell her about the project and that we require her services as a scientist and archaeologist. Second, you will keep Dr. T'Soni safe. She somehow managed to get powerful enemies."

"The Shadow Broker." Vasir nodded.

"Yes, although we have no idea how why. The agent of the Matriarchs claims that T'Soni is being constantly followed by Shadow Broker agents. You must make sure that no harm comes to her."

"_So, this is it then – the time when I have to my allegiance?_" Tela thought as the words of Farseer Maeteris came unbidden to mind.

"_Spoken with conviction. I hope that when the time to make a choice comes, you will remember your own words..._"

"Is everything alright, Vasir?" Tevos' voice interrupted Vasir's thoughts.

"Yes, I was lost in thought for a moment. I was thinking of the gear I wanted to acquire while I am on the Citadel. Your orders are understood, Councilor. I will be ready to depart as soon as possible."

"Good, good. Oh, there is one more thing!" Tevos said and gave Vasir a data pad. "Shepard established contact with new sapient creatures called Gyrinx. The first details are on this datapad."

Tela turned on the datapad and was surprised to see a familiar, well, "face".

"Goddess," Vasir muttered as she started reading the information.

"What is it?" The Councilor asked, seeing the confusion on Vasir's face.

"This... being..." Tela managed.

"Yes, they look like animals but they are actually sapient creatures." Tevos explained. "Is something wrong?"

"I am... not sure but I think I encountered this particular Gyrinx when I was on Illium."

"A-a-and?" Tevos urged her to continue.

"And I might have, quite accidentally I assure you, sent the Illium Animal Control after it." Vasir replied.

She heard Tevos inhale sharply and let out a painful moan. The Councilor started rubbing her temples.

"Just... Familiarize yourself with this new species, Spectre. You are dismissed."

Tevos turned around and went towards her office. Vasir was certain that she heard the Councilor mutter something about "retirement".

* * *

><p><em><span>AN: I wanted to thank everyone for your support and your suggestions about interactions between M'tarr and various crew members. Some of them will be implemented in the next chapter._


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